Born from the shadows
by Derpmeister
Summary: A story that develops on the lore of league of legends, particularly the background of Shen and the Kinkou order. A closer look at the relationships between characters good and evil, developing popular ships as well as adding a bit of drama to the mix!
1. Chapter 1

**Authors Notes:** Hey guys, just a quick note from me, I just started writing for the fun of it, and I'm interested to hear your opinions on the story, and use that to influence how the story continues! So please leave your reviews and let me know what you think!

Born from the shadows

Chapter 1

Lurking beneath the canopy of the dark Noxian woods, the fist of shadow skulked, plotting how she would balance the equilibrium of Valoran. Under the watchful Eye of twilight, and the cover of darkness she moved swiftly, ever closer to her prey. This time, the sinister blade had gone too far. Killing a few deadbeats is one thing, but when her tally was nearing the thousands she had to be stopped. Anymore killing and the triumvirate would have some serious work to do. The prey was marked. And with a flick of the wrist, the sinister blade, Katarina Du Couteau, was pinned to the ground by the fist of shadows' Kama. However, what she had not realised was that despite being remarkably quick Katarina was a trained Noxian assassin, the fist looked down and saw one of Katarina's sparkling silver blade positioned just below her ribs.

"Long time no see Akali" Katarina whispered up to the fist of shadow. Akali could not help but think how much of an asset Katarina could be in the right hands, but regardless, she had made too many mistakes to turn back now.

"Ah Katarina, a pleasure as always" Akali spat back. The eye of twilight had seen the blade from atop a distant tree and had just appeared from the tree line, and from the other side approached the heart of the tempest. "Ooh lucky me, I have the whole gang! How's it going Shen, Kennen?" Katarina asked rather chirpily despite the Kama around her neck. "Ok, I can see you're all in a remarkably chatty mood tonight, so, what do we say you release this Kama Akali and I'll withdraw my blade?" quizzed Katarina as she put a little more pressure on the blade, making Akali feel it's cold, sharp tip dig in to the gap between her ribs, right below her heart.

"Fine." Replied Akali in an icy defeated tone "You first." The pressure of Katarina's blade released, and true to her word Akali released her Kama. Katarina looked into Akali's deep brown eyes, winked, and disappeared. She had given the triumvirate the slip once again. The trio regained their composure and began the journey back to the Kinkou order temple in Ionia.

As Akali burst through the door she shouted "Shen! How could you let her pull a blade on me! I thought you were meant to watch that!" and before Shen could open his mouth to speak Akali shouted once more, this time to her small furry friend "and you! How late were you?! I thought the plan was to hit her at once!?" With that Akali went to the training room to take her anger out on those poor training dummies. Shen and Kennen went towards the mess hall for food and something to drink, they were parched after the long and unsuccessful journey. Silence resided over the meal, until they caught each other's eye line. Sat, not breaking the silence, Shen was wary as he knew Kennen could read peoples thoughts via the eyes alone, and he did not want Kennen knowing what he was thinking. After about 5 minutes they both started giggling, the tense silence had grown too much for the trained ninjas. Shen spoke first, "Man Akali can be a bit of a handful sometimes, right?" Kennen nodded in agreement and commented "She didn't even give me chance to explain why I was late before she stormed off! The route she had given me had an unexpected Noxian camp on it! I had to fight my way through there first!"

"I know! I was watching! Which is why I missed Katarina pull the blade! I only noticed it a little too late!"

The two started laughing again. "Ah well, we'll have that red-head next time! Right Fuzzball?"

"Yeah!" Kennen said excitedly, although dismayed at the new nickname Shen had dreamt up for him. It was still dark out, but the pair knew morning approached so decided to retire for the night.

Meanwhile, down in the training room, Akali kept on swinging at the dummies, muttering to herself as she went. "Damn idiots, why weren't they there when I asked? Why didn't they stick to the plan? I was sure we had her that time"

"Patience child" Akali turned quickly, Kama's in the air ready. "I'm sorry master, you startled me" She said whilst sheathing her Kamas and bowing her head in respect.

"I have heard all about tonight's raid my dear Akali; do not be so down on yourself. The plan was great, you have no need to be disheartened by this failure child. As a member of the Kinkou, you pride yourself on balance, yet was what you said to your fellow triumvirate balanced? I think maybe you need to talk to those who may have been slightly hurt by your actions as you returned, don't you?"

"Yes master, I snapped, I do apologise."

"It isn't me you should be apologising too Akali is it?"

Akali looked down in shame, her master was right. She had wronged her two greatest friends, allies and equals in this world, and with that, she looked to her master, thanked him for his wisdom, bowed and turned to leave, heading straight for Kennen's room to apologise.

As he removed his mask and headwear, Kennen's blonde Yordle hair flopped. He ran his hand through it to try and make it feel more comfortable, but once again, he had acquired helmet hair. "Dammit, looks like I need to shower to get rid of this knot." There was a soft knock at the door, followed by a gentle voice, "Kennen? I need to speak to you." Kennen's eyes widened, he thought, "She can't see my hair like this! It looks a mess!" He quickly pulled his mask and headwear back on to cover his hair. "Come in!" He shouted to the door, his high-pitched yordle voice, squeaking as he shouted. Akali slowly poked her head round the door and Kennen gestured to his bed for her to take a seat. Once seated, Kennen moved to sit beside her and looked upon her with longing eyes. Akali looked like she had only just returned from battle, a small amount of sweat dripping from under her head band, her hair slightly messy with her mask down round her neck. She placed her Kama's down, propped up against the bed and sighed. "I'm sorry for snapping before Kennen. For someone who strives to keep balance, it was a very unbalanced discussion to why the plan didn't work." Kennen nodded in agreement, Akali looked slightly hurt by this agreement but preceded anyway, "Was there any reason that you were late to the scene?"

"Well, the route that I had been given had a rather sizeable Noxian camp on it, so I had to fight my way through that first."

"Why didn't you just go round? Are you not quick enough?"

"Oh, yeah, I could have done that… I'm sorry for my mistake Akali." Slightly annoyed that Kennen had been the reason for her plan not working, she accepted the apology. "Kennen, why have you got your mask and headwear on still? It's only me; you don't have to hide yourself from me!" He shrugged his shoulders, hoping she didn't want him to take it off. "Okay, your choice." She smiled at him and ruffled his hair, or at least his head where his hair would be, then stood and made her way to the wooden door in the corner. With a glance over her shoulder she wished him sweet dreams and was on her way.

Shen stood in front of his window, overlooking the sleeping city-state of Ionia with pain in his eyes. After bottling all his pain up when around his master, he often did this to relieve himself of his suffering, for that is the price of being the Eye of twilight. Tonight however, his pain hurt more than usual. For it was his fault that Akali had nearly been killed. Every time he thought of Katarina's blade pushing against Akali, he felt a stab in the chest, like a dagger had been thrown through his heart. Yes, Shen is trained to act dispassionately and remove emotion from his decision making equations, but in all actuality, Shen is a kind soul, as compassionate as any man and when he's alone in the evenings, he lets his emotions run free. Tonight, his emotions ran wild. He was angry at himself for not seeing the blade, he was upset at losing Akali, but he was also relieved that she was okay, for he didn't think that he could live without her in his life. There was something special about her, for in Shen's mind, she's more of an angel than Kayle, more of a warrior than Garen, and a kinder person than Queen Ashe. But no one can know this is what he thinks as he is supposed to be dispassionate and emotionless, for he is the eye of twilight. As a tear ran down his cheek, a knock came, followed by her soft voice, "Shen? Can I come in?" He quickly composed himself, as he asked for her to come in, yet he remained facing the window, his back to Akali who stood just in the doorway. She saw him, meditating on the occurrences of the day and she turned to leave. "Don't go," Shen spoke after her, "Your presence is soothing." Akali couldn't help but blush a little. She entered and shut the door behind her and made her way to the bed to sit and wait for Shen. All the rooms around here were the same, but for some reason Shen's room was always immaculate. Every time she came in, spotless, bed made, the tiled floor waxed, the shelves dusted and all books in order. Akali couldn't help but wonder when he had the time to do all this, for most of the waking day, they're together and she hasn't once seen him clean. Silence prevailed for the following 10 minutes after Akali had entered and sat down. Shen used this time to compose himself completely and when he felt ready to face her, he spun on his heel and moved to sit next to her on the bed. "To what do I owe the pleasure Akali?" He asked in his deep, velvety voice.

"I'm here to apologise Shen, my outburst earlier was unacceptable."

"I'm also sorry Akali, I should have been watching you entirely for you were dealing with a real killer, but my mind was drawn by Kennen engaging on the Noxian camp," He could feel himself starting to well up again, but was determined to stay calm and collected. Surely Akali knows he isn't completely dispassionate? Surely she knows that is entirely impossible for any person upon Valoran to be completely emotionless? "I know," Akali said ever so gently as she raised her hand to Shen's unmasked face, her soft skin soothed his cheek as she moved her hand down and brought his face to face hers, her deep brown eyes, looking straight into his slightly teary blue eyes, he could feel himself relaxing, but at the same time his heart began to beat many times faster than he had ever experienced before, he could feel it in his throat. "Kennen and I have already discussed that part, so there's in no need for you to concern yourself with it, it was most certainly not your fault." Akali knew that no matter how composed he seemed, Shen worried. She knew that he would immediately assume it was his fault and blame himself, for no one could be completely emotionless. Shen smiled at her softly as her eyes drifted from his and began to scan the room again, she removed her hand as Shen stood up once again and made his way to the window. "Shen, how do you find the time to keep your room this clean?" Akali queried with an air of disbelief, but also in a joking manner. However, Shen's reply was nothing like the joke she was hoping for, "I don't sleep well anymore"

"Why? What's up?"

"I have something on my mind recently, that's all." He turned and smiled at Akali as she stood to leave.

"Well you better get some sleep! Big day tomorrow! 10 major operations if I remember correctly? Anyway, good night Shen, sweet dreams."

"And to you." With that she left the room, closing the door behind her. Shen's pale blue eyes began to glaze over, but this time not so much of the sadness of earlier, but a bit of joy had crept in, he would savour that moment with Akali for a long time to come.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The day started as any normal day would, Shen, Akali and Kennen met at the entrance to the Kinkou temple ready for their day at work. These are 3 trained ninjas with excellent precision and talent at the fine arts, so they have been hired to work in a hospital, Kennen the doctor, Shen the surgeon and of course Akali the nurse. There are no greater team in Valoran when it comes to looking after the people's health.

Shen was of course first to arrive at the entrance, shortly joined by Akali and lastly Kennen. "Considering you're supposed to be the fastest one of us 3 you sure take your time getting ready Fuzzball!" Akali Jested to the little yordle as they left for the hospital. Little did they know that today was to be far from ordinary...

The hospital itself was not far from the temple, so the trio were there in no time. Upon arrival they donned their theatre scrubs and began to prepare for the first scheduled case. Shen and Kennen remained in the theatre discussing the upcoming cases whilst Akali went to prepare the patient. The halls leading to the theatre were quite a dark and unfriendly, Akali thought to herself and quickened her pace towards the preparation area, "I would hate to have to come down here as a patient," she muttered under her breath whilst a shiver went down her spine.

"Nurse! Come quick!" A shout came from towards the emergency department. Akali snapped her head round to see one of the other doctors dripping in sweat and looking panicked.

"What's wrong? What's happened?" Akali quizzed the man.

"We have an emergency! Is the theatre ready?" the doctor replied.

"Yes of course, take the patient straight in. What are we dealing with? So I can go and make sure everything is set-up."

"This man has numerous lacerations to the neck and face and is losing a lot of blood. A knife remains in the side of his neck which we think may have split the jugular vein. My thoughts are to remove the knife in surgery so we can sow the vein back up. This is life and death Akali; I hope the team is ready."

"I ensure you we will do everything we can to save this gentleman." Akali reassured the doctor as she turned on her heel back towards the theatre.

As she approached the doors to the theatre, she could hear the distinctive sound of Kennen's high-pitched giggle and couldn't help but smile. What on earth could be so funny? She thought as she entered the room. Shen was stood with his back to the door and Kennen whilst the little yordle was curled up in a ball on the floor clutching his stomach laughing his little head off.

"What's so funny?" She exclaimed upon entering.

"It's Shen... his shoes...haha...look..." Kennen attempted to reply, struggling in between all his laughter. Akali looked down towards Shen's feet, "And?" She replied.

"THEY'RE CROCS!" Kennen blurted out before starting yet another laughing fit.

"I'll have you know they're extremely comfortable and practical for this kind of work Kennen. You're just jealous because you're not allowed to wear them because the infection risk from your hairy feet!" Shen replied whilst turning to face Akali, with a complete straight face with no sign of emotion. Akali couldn't help but let out a small giggle at the embarrassed Shen's response. "Anyway, mind on today's surgery, we have an emergency case coming in from the A&E department, a man who has multiple lacerations to his face and neck, some old, some new, but has a knife stuck in the side of his neck which the doctors think may have severed the jugular so they want to remove it in here so immediate repairs can be performed. Okay Shen?"

"Of course, why wouldn't I be okay? I'm a professional." Shen replied rather abruptly.

"I know, it's just because of before, you know?" Akali asked rather quietly.

"I don't know what you're talking about Akali." Shen turned to face away and prepare the room. In dismay, Akali turned and began to get the necessary tools out for the surgery. Kennen finally stopped laughing and could sense the awkwardness in the room, he tootled up beside Akali and asked what was going on as he had been too busy laughing at Shen's crocs to hear the brief. Akali filled him in on what she knew about the case but left out the part of Shen being seemingly upset. With a bang, the doors flew wide open, and a team of doctors, nurses, anaesthetists and the like came barrelling through with the patient on a trolley, Akali and Kennen rushed to aid the doctors in moving the patient on to the operating table yet Shen remained unmoved, focused on the screen he was in front of. Preparing himself for this potentially fatal surgery. The doctor accompanying the patient began reading out what they knew. "This gentleman was caught up in a fire so has burns on his lower limbs but these are only a secondary problem, our main worry is this knife sticking out the side of his neck. He was adamant about his mask staying in place, but we had to remove it. Fortunately his other half was on hand to remove the mask and perform what we needed, but the patient has asked that we keep his face covered if possible."

"That's all well and good, but do we know who we're operating on?" Kennen asked.

"We do, his name, is Zed..."

All eyes in the room turned to Shen, including Akali and Kennen. Shen felt as if he'd been stabbed in the chest. The one he had once called brother, the one who was to blame for his Father's murder, the one family member Shen had left, was on the table behind him bleeding to death. His mind flooded with emotions, for Shen had once loved Zed as a brother, before the temple was set ablaze and his Father stabbed in the neck with one of Zed's blades. Could he save the man who tore his life apart? Could he let his last living kin die at his hand? Could he have the power to stop Zed dying the same way his Father did?


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

It took every ounce of spiritual energy Shen had to maintain his dispassionate judgement. Of course he would do everything in his power to save this man, as he would if it was anybody else on the table in front of him, for that was his duty. Shen spun on his heel and moved towards the unconscious Zed and started giving orders to the staff around him, with Akali and Kennen's help, they could save this man's life.

With the power of the eye of the twilight, Shen could see where the tip of the knife lay, just scratching the surface of the jugular vein. "Thank god for that" he thought as if the jugular had been punctured, Zed's survival chances would have been low. "The knife is safe to remove," Shen proclaimed to the room. "It hasn't punctured any of the major vessels, whoever did this, missed their mark." A sigh of relief went round the room as Shen began to slide the knife out slowly. As the blade came out, small spurts of blood followed like deep red fountains and collected in a puddle on the floor by Shen's feet. Akali had prepared a needle and thread so that Shen could sow the gaping hole in Zed's neck, and with that, the job was done.

After the patient and accompanying staff had left, and it was just the trio remaining, Akali approached Shen. She could see in his eyes that what had happened to Zed had upset him. Placing a reassuring hand on his shoulder "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." Shen replied stubbornly.

"It's clear to me that you're not. I'll have the rest of today's list is cancelled. Go home, me and Kennen will tidy up and follow you."

Shen turned to Akali and pulled her in to a hug. "Thank you," He whispered in her ear before leaving the theatre.

"What was all that about?" Kennen asked Akali after Shen had left.

"Nothing, Shen's just not having the best of days because he didn't sleep well last night." Akali replied rather unconvincingly.

"Right." Kennen knew she was lying, but didn't want to pry any further. Silence prevailed whilst the pair tidied the room and left for home, half an hour or so after Shen.

Once Shen arrived at the temple he went straight to his master, to apologise for his lack of work today. The master's room was at the top of the temple's central spire, the tallest of the 5 spires, with a smaller one in each corner of the rectangular building. Shen climbed the 100 steps up to his master's office and knocked unusually gingerly on the door. An authoritative call to come in came from behind the door and Shen proceeded with caution.

Inside the room was basic, like all other rooms in the Kinkou temple, Bamboo walls, basic wooden panel flooring and a straw bed. However as this was the master's chamber and office, it had a wooden desk in the centre, and sat behind it, the master of the Kinkou order. He was sat with his back to Shen so all that could be made out is a shadowy outline. Shen kneeled in front of the desk with his head bowed. A gruff tone came from the silhouette – very unlike the previous encounter Akali and the master had - saying "Why are you home so early Shen? I do not expect to see you before dusk, yet the sun has barely reached its peak in the sky!"

"My apologies master, but ill fortune had fallen upon Zed thus required me to operate on him. This -"

"And this operation was successful?" the master interrupted.

"Yes, but-"

"So Zed is still alive?"

"Yes, but it-"

"Damn" The master muttered just out of ear shot of Shen. "Did you say something master?" Shen inquired.

"No. Now be gone." With that, Shen stood, spun and moved to leave the room. "Close the door on the way out. I recommend you reflect on today's disappointment as you are obviously not nearly as strong as your father once was, hardly worthy of the title 'Eye of twilight'." The master snapped. Shen hastily left the room, his eyes glazing over as he began the decent down the central spire towards his chambers.


	4. Chapter 4

Author Notes: Hey guys, I hope things start to get a bit more interesting from here! If you're liking what you're reading please feel free to let me know and give me any feedback you may have :) Happy Reading!

Chapter 4

Akali and Kennen entered the front door to the Kinkou temple, still in absolute silence. Kennen too afraid to ask about what had happened earlier, and make Akali think he was insensitive and rude, especially as she is the girl he wants to impress, and Akali too worried about Shen and what he'd said earlier to think about anything else. Kennen looked up to Akali, "Are you hungry? I'm going to grab a bite to eat in the mess if you'd like to join me?"

"Err, yeah, sure," Akali replied rather vacantly, wondering where Shen was and whether she should try to find him. The pair walked towards the mess hall situated under the central spire, by the back of the temple and Kennen was doing somersaults in his head, ecstatic that he would have some alone time with Akali at long last. As they approached the mess Akali saw Shen briskly walking down the steps above the mess and move towards his room.

"I'm sorry Kennen, I have to go," Akali said and left in a hurry.

"What's got in to her?" Kennen thought to himself. "No matter, I'm hungry!" and he scurried off to get some food in the mess hall.

Akali chased after Shen who seemed in a hurry himself, she knew he was going to his room, because that's the direction he left towards, but she couldn't catch him. She headed towards his room anyway because she wanted to see him and offer her support. As she climbed the steps towards Shen's room, situated atop the far eastern spire, she hesitated. "Will he actually want to see me?" She thought. Doubts continued to flood her mind, slowing her advance to Shen's room with every new doubt. "No, Shen is my friend. I'm going to go help him whether he likes it or not." And with that she finished the last few steps up the wooden spire. Approaching his door slowly, Akali gently knocked, as she always does, but got no reply. She hesitated for a moment and knocked again, but still no reply. "Maybe he's in the bath, or fallen asleep, or even gone to the training room to take out any anger he has, that's what I'd do after all." Akali turned to descend the tower once again, but from inside came a soft, wavering voice, extremely unlike Shen's. "Who is it?" The voice called out choking on the short question.

"Only me, Akali." Akali replied with equally as soft tone, hoping to give reassurance.

"It's unlocked." The voice replied. Akali slowly opened the door and peered inside. There were books thrown all over the floor, shelves ripped from the wall, bedding thrown aside and sat on the floor in the middle of it all was Shen. Sat legs crossed with his head in his hands. Without a second thought, Akali slammed the door shut, threw her bag with her nursing equipment in to the side and rushed to Shen, flopping to the floor behind him and pulling herself in to his back in a tight hug. From where her head lay on Shen's back, she could hear his heart racing, from where her arms had hold of him across his stomach, she could feel his crying. "What a horrible day Shen must've had to end up like this, I've never ever seen him anywhere near this bad," Akali thought to herself whilst pulling Shen in to an even tighter embrace. The pair stayed like this for a good twenty minutes, until Shen finally composed himself enough to face Akali. He turned slowly, and Akali sat back allowing him to do so. As he turned, Akali could see the extent of his sadness. His usual soft pale blue eyes red and bloodshot, streaks were left down his face where tears had carved a path and his cheeks puffy from where he'd rested his head on his hands to try to hide his tears, the bags under his eyes from not sleeping well now more visible than usual. Shen hadn't even bothered to take his headgear off, only lower his mask. "Firstly, let's take this hood off," Akali said softly whilst gently tugging at his headgear. Shen put up no resistance and eventually his hood came off, revealing Shen's blonde locks as they parted in the centre and flopped to either side of his head. Akali placed Shen's hood beside them and let her hands slide to either side of his face, taking a moment to just stare in to his eyes and give him a small smile. He smiled back slightly and sniffed up, Akali's heart began to race and she just couldn't resist. She pulled Shen's face towards her own and kissed his tender lips. Shen opened his eyes wide, his heart racing, but relaxed, closed his eyes and kissed her back. After this, both of the pair's first kiss, Akali pulled back, red in the face from blushing, but Shen put his arms around her back and pulled her in to a tight embrace. "Thank you," he whispered in to her ear, his voice stronger than before, back to that deep velvety tone Akali knows and loves. Akali placed her arms around him and hugged him back. Each person could feel the other's heart racing, and Akali felt relieved that Shen enjoyed that kiss as much as she did. The pair stayed there for a long time, happy in each other's company, feeling safe in one another's arms.

Shen eventually pulled back from the hug and stood up. "The master ordered Zed to be killed. I'm certain of it." Shen proclaimed as he walked towards the window.

"What?" Akali replied with disbelief in her heart.

"Yes, I went to see him on my return and explain why the day's surgery had been cancelled. Yet he had no interest in this. His only interest was to whether or not Zed had survived."

"That doesn't sound like master at all?"

"I know and that's why I went to the archive earlier to view some of the records on my Father's murder."

"And?"

"The pages had been ripped out."

"But that could have been anyone? Right?"

"Yes, of course, but not everyone would have said 'Damn' to the news that a man had survived an attack..." Akali looked at Shen with disbelief and horror. How could her master be so heartless as to be upset at a man's survival? Yes, Zed was never seen to be the nicest of men, but he hadn't actually done anything wrong, nothing to upset the balance of Valoran.

"There was one more thing," Shen added. "This." He took a piece of paper from his pocket and gave it to Akali to read. "You dropped it after Katarina escaped us last night."

"My dearest Katarina, it is time for you to take out the next threat to my rule. Eliminate Zed, master of the order of shadows. His following has grown too great. Use any means necessary, but wouldn't it be ironic if you killed him the same way as you killed his dear old dad? Signed, you know who."

Akali finished the note and could not believe what she had read. So it wasn't Zed that had killed Shen's father all those years ago, but Katarina – hired by someone else, someone who had a rule over something, someone who had something to lose, someone who felt threatened, but who? The conversation Shen had had with the master points towards him, but they can't go making wild accusations of this magnitude, they needed solid evidence. Akali stood from her position on the floor and moved towards Shen at the window. "I will help you in any way I can," Akali said whilst approaching Shen. He turned, his eyes welling up again after hearing that note one more time, and Akali grabbed hold of him and hugged him once more. "Whatever I can do, I will do it for you Shen," she whispered in his ear, "And I'm sure Kennen will help too," She reassured him. Shen's head rested atop Akali's head and she burrowed her head into his chest. "Thank you Akali, Thank you." Shen whispered and gently kissed the top of Akali's head.

Akali pulled back from Shen's warm embrace, and turned to leave the room. She had seen a new side to Shen today, one who cared for those close to him, a compassionate man who will protect everything he loves and a man with deep emotions for Akali. This made her happy, as she has always had a deep love for Shen, but had always thought it was a one sided love, maybe it's more mutual than she could ever have thought. As Akali made her way to the door Shen said "Let me talk to Kennen, I'll get him on our side too. Are you sure you want to do this Akali? It means we have to go behind masters back?"

"I think we will have to pay a visit to your brother in the hospital tomorrow morning!" Akali called back to Shen as she left the room, and with that, Shen knew that she would help him.

Shen spent the rest of that day tidying up the mess he had made in his room, whilst thinking over what had happened, and on more than one occasion, replaying that kiss from Akali! When darkness fell, he went to speak with Kennen, whose room was just below his, in the far eastern spire. Shen approached and knocked firmly. Kennen's little yordle ears pricked up when he heard the knock, but he was hoping it was Akali coming to apologise for earlier and was a little disheartened when Shen entered. The pair sat on Kennen's bed, facing one another and Kennen knew without a word something was up, and that Shen had come to ask for his friends help. "So what do you need my help with?" Kennen asked chirpily.

"Well..." and Shen then continued to explain to Kennen exactly what he had told Akali earlier, about his thesis that the Master was behind both Zed's assassination attempt and his father's murder. Shocked by the news, Kennen took a moment to think it over.

"Come to think of it, when I spoke to master earlier, after you'd been to see him, he tried to avoid eye contact with me at all costs. Plus I have seen owls flying to and from his window on a regular basis; perhaps this is how he's contacting Katarina?" Kennen added. His room, despite being directly below Shen's faced the opposite way, with the window facing towards the centre of the Kinkou temple, whereas Shen's window faces outwards over Ionia.

"Very possibly my friend. Me and Akali plan on visiting Zed in the hospital tomorrow to see if we can find anything else out, of course this would need to be done without the master knowing, can you help us?" Shen pleaded to the little yordle.

"Wait, Akali's coming too?"

"Yes, she has decided to help also."

"Then count me in!" Kennen said with much more than enthusiasm than when Shen first entered the room.

"Great. We leave at dawn." Said Shen as he left Kennen's room and returned to his own, to mentally prepare himself for the potentially devastating truths he may uncover the following day.


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Notes:** Now we get to the good part! Some action and more character interactions, hope you enjoy!

Chapter 5

As usual, Shen did not sleep that night. However, it wasn't the burdens of Ionia or his forbidden feelings for Akali that kept him up; it was the nerves of speaking to his long lost brother once again. Shen hoped that Zed would be able to put the past behind him and be able to discuss the current state like adults, and that Zed would not hold anything against him, Akali or Kennen.

Just before the crack of dawn, Shen left his chambers for the rendezvous point, just under the shadowy canopy of the forest surrounding the temple, away from the potentially prying eyes of the master. Shen had instructed the trio to come in plain clothes so that they would be in disguise, so Shen had come in a blue, white and red tracksuit and a blue and white cap with red neck scarf to replace his mask and cover his face. A soft, sweet voice came from the darkness behind him, "Shen? Is that you?" Shen turned quickly, hand on his blade.

"Akali?" Silence followed and the figure flung herself on to Shen, pulling his mask down and pecking him on the cheek. Shen held the figure, which he could now tell was Akali, close to his body, holding her in a tight embrace.

"I'm here for you, as I said I would be." Akali whispered in to Shen's ear in her soft, sweet voice.

"Thank you Akali, it means a lot." Shen replied in his deep velvety voice. The pair broke off the hug just before Kennen appeared from the temple doors and made his way over to them. Akali and Shen pretended nothing was going on, stood in silence when Kennen arrived.

"Lovely and awkward here as ever," Kennen said as he approached, hoping to break the tension, not knowing he was the one causing the tension. Akali looked at Shen out of the corner of her eyes and blushed, luckily her mask managed to cover her cheeks.

"We have a serious task at hand Kennen. We must get to the hospital before anyone tries to kill Zed again. If someone survives an assassination attempt, they usually come back to finish the job." Shen said sternly. With that, the trio of ninjas left the temple, just as the Sun began to rise and peek through the spires of the Kinkou temple, it's warm orange glow lighting the path in front of them.

The three approached the hospital as the sun began to rise in the sky, taking roughly an hour to get there. Once inside, they got directions to where Zed is being kept, escorted by one of the nurses. "He still insists on keeping that mask on you know." The nurse stated quite matter of factly. "The only way we get food and drink in to him is when his fiancée is around; he takes his mask off for her so she can feed him at least." As they approached the door to Zed's side room, Shen noticed the 2 guards, one stood either side of the door, and this took a massive weight off his shoulders, knowing Zed should have a decent level of security surrounding him. Kennen and the nurse went straight in to Zed's room and Shen paused at the door before entering, Akali behind him. "Are you ok Shen?" Akali asked from behind.

"Yes, just a little nervous, that's all." Shen replied, his voice wavering slightly. Akali reached forward taking hold of his hand down at his side.

"Together then?" She suggested empathetically. Shen looked over his shoulder and smiled, gripping Akali's hand tightly by his side and entering the room.

Lay on the bed in the centre of the room was Zed, with his mask on of course, but in hospital gowns other than his mask. By his left side was Kennen, unrecognisable in his cap, glasses and black turtleneck top, covering his face, and by Zed's right was Syndra, Zed's fiancée, holding his hand tightly on her lap. Shen politely asked the nurses to give them a few minutes, and then closed the door behind them. Kennen drew the curtains over the window, and Akali pulled the drapes to cover the window in the door. Syndra looked up as the room dimmed with a look of worry on her face as she hadn't recognised the trio. Shen stood at the foot of the bed, removed his cap and pulled his scarf down around his neck. Shen could see Syndra relax back in to her chair and sigh slightly, fearing that it was another assassin or the like. "Hello again, Brother." Shen said solemnly.

"It's been a while since you called me that." Zed replied with a deep voice, not too dissimilar to Shen's but muffled by the mask he wore. "To what do we owe the pleasure?"

"Firstly, I'm sorry."

"Sorry? For what?"

"For ever doubting you, for believing that you could have possibly been the one to kill Father." Zed remained in silence. "But more importantly, we need to find out more about what has happened Zed, do you remember anything?" The other two in the room removed their disguises too, when Shen gestured to them. Silence prevailed for the coming few minutes, whilst the trio waited patiently. After about 5 minutes, Syndra stood up offering coffee or tea to those around the room. She asked Akali to come with her and help carry the 5 mugs, and gave Kennen some money to go to the shop to buy something sweet for the group. Kennen was like most yordles, distracted easily by the prospect of sweet things. Syndra knew that this would allow Zed and Shen some privacy.

Syndra and Akali walked in silence the majority of the way, but to break this, Syndra jested "So, Akali, how are things with Shen?" She turned and winked at Akali, who just stared back blushing under her cap. "Don't think I didn't notice you two holding hands as you came in!" Akali pulled back in shock, how did she see? Akali was sure she concealed it well enough, right? "Don't worry, I won't tell anybody! Except maybe Zed of course, I know it's forbidden for Shen to have feelings for you, or for anyone but it's just so cute!" Syndra sounded like an excitable high school girl. She got like this whenever romance was in the air, Akali knew this but couldn't help but look down in embarrassment and Syndra's constant goings giddy droning. The pair continued their coffee run like this.

Meanwhile back in the hospital room, there was still silence. "Zed, I need to know if you remember anything." Shen asked, more forcefully this time. Zed turned his head. "Please!" Shen pushed, staring Zed down. "Fine, all I can remember in the hell of it all was a flash of red hair. I hope you have more than that to go on, because that's far from enough evidence to accuse anyone." Zed seemed annoyed with Shen in his tone. "That's plenty. I already knew who was supposed to do it; I just needed your evidence to match with mine." Zed faced Shen again, showing interest in his adopted brother for the first time that day. "Who?" Zed asked, in a lighter tone this time. "Katarina Du Couteau."

By the main entrance to the hospital, there is the shop, and inside a hungry yordle debated over which sweets to buy, when, from the corner of his eye, he saw a cloaked figure, standing about 5 foot 5 inches off the ground and dressed all in black. The suspicious figure had a familiar feel to it, like Kennen had met them before somewhere, but where? The figure turned and headed in the direction of Zed's room. In that instant, Kennen dropped the sweets and followed in hot pursuit of the figure. As they entered Zed's hospital wing, the figure dropped a small ball shaped object, but didn't hesitate to pick it up, instead increased their speed. Kennen moved over to the object on the floor, and noticed what it was too late... A smoke bomb! It exploded in Kennen's face, sending him flying across the corridor in to the opposite wall.

Further down the corridor the two ladies heard the blast as they turned the corner of the long corridor Zed's room was on, and in the distance could see the smoke. They looked at one another with eyes wide open in shock, dropped the coffees and ran the quarter mile stretch towards Zed's room. Little did they know what lay waiting just behind that door.

The blast occurred as Shen told Zed whom he thought responsible for the assassination attempt, and from behind Shen, by the door, a seductive womanly voice pepped up, "Did your Father never tell you how rude it was to talk about someone behind their back?" Shen spun on his heel as the cloaked figure uncovered their face. It was her. Katarina Du Couteau. "Hello boys." She said with a wink as she pulled her duel blades from her side." Shen immediately called his spirit blade to his side and blocked Katarina's first, slicing attack. In the mean time, Zed had reached below the bed and picked up his shuriken and as Katarina used her second blade to go under Shen's left arm, aiming to pierce his chest wall just below the arm pit, Zed flung a shuriken with almighty strength and knocked the blade right out of her hand. "Looks like the old boy has some fight in him yet!" Katarina taunted. Zed scowled at the sinister blade as her blade locked Shen's once again. She then seemed to disappear in to thin air.

"Behind you!" Zed screamed from the bed. Katarina was stood directly behind Shen, dwarfed by his large stature, but jumped up on to his back and aimed to drive her knife in to Shen's neck. Knowing what she planned to do, Shen threw himself backwards in to the wall, causing Katarina to miss and instead impale Shen's right shoulder. Both screamed out in agony, Katarina's much higher pitched, but matched Shen's in volume, causing a strange beauty, as if the two were locked in some sort of duet. With that, the door flew open and Akali and Syndra burst in. Katarina, still on Shen's back locked eyes with Akali, and leaped towards the window, opened it and jumped. The room was on the ground floor so gave Katarina a perfect escape, no doubt she would have pre-planned that. Akali charged towards the window, to follow in pursuit of the assassin when Shen cried out. "Akali, no! Don't follow her – Aaaaah" He writhed in agony with the knife sticking out of the top of his torso. "Look at what you're wearing, where are your weapons, what would you do when you caught her, what if she had allies waiting? You...can't always... rush in to... things..."

"You're right Shen," Akali agreed regrettably. She turned to approach her injured partner. "Shen!" She cried out as Shen collapsed in a heap on the floor unconscious.


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's Notes:** Hey! I'm going to attempt to release a chapter every Tuesday and Thursday as best I can. Sorry this is such a short one, but Chapter 7 makes up for it! Promise! Enjoy.

Chapter 6

Shen woke in a daze, not really sure where he was, or what he was doing. He was lay in a hospital bed and that it was night time as the windows were dark and the candles lit, he could distinguish that much. Turning his head to his left he could see Akali sat down asleep, he wondered how long he'd been here, and how long she'd been sat there. Shen tried to turn his head to the right, but someone's hand stopped him.

"Hold still." A soothing woman's voice could be heard. "If you move I might slip and make things worse!"

Who is this? Shen thought to himself. He vaguely recognised the voice but couldn't decide who it was. "She's been sat there for 6 hours I've been told," The voice had noticed Shen looking at Akali, "Refused to leave you here alone." Shen couldn't help but smile to himself at how sweet Akali had been. Akali stirred with the noise from the voices, waking herself from her slumber. After slowly readjusting to the room and having a good look round, remembering where she was, she spoke, "I'm so glad you were nearby, Shen's the only one round here with the necessary surgical skills around here!"

"My pleasure, after all, you did save me from Warwick that time. I am sorry I couldn't get here sooner though, I only noticed the danger Shen's life was in as I passed." The voice replied, whose identity still a mystery to Shen.

"What were you doing over this way anyway Soraka?" Akali directed to the voice, and Shen kicked himself for not recognising Soraka's voice sooner.

"Just visiting some old friends, got to make sure Irelia's doing alright."

"Did she know you were coming?" Akali asked rather worriedly.

"No appointment was set, don't worry, you're not going to get an angry Irelia knocking on your door any time soon, not on my account anyway." Soraka reassured the obviously worried Akali, she could tell Shen took a sigh of relief too.

After another 15 minutes or so of general small talk, Soraka announced she was finished. Shen turned his head to the right to admire her handiwork. Miraculously, the gaping stab wound Katarina left there earlier had completely disappeared. Shen sat up, moving his arm up to point it at the ceiling, making a fist and bringing it back down to his chest. "Thank you so much Soraka," His deep velvety tone back to its usual self.

"My pleasure, one of my easier fixes though, so don't even think about paying me or anything!"

"Are you sure?" Shen said looking at the celestial being.

"Of course," Soraka looked at Shen with soft eyes, those of a caring person, whose sole purpose was to aid the wellbeing of others. Soraka stood up and moved towards the door to leave. Just before she left the room, she turned back and looked at the pair. "I know how you 2 feel about one another, I can see it in your eyes, and personally, I think it's beautiful." And with that she left. Akali looked down at her feet and could feel her cheeks burning with embarrassment. "Was it really that obvious?" she thought to herself and glanced up at Shen. He was also looking down in embarrassment with rosy red cheeks; Akali couldn't help but think how cute he was when he went all shy and embarrassed.

"Listen Akali, Soraka told me you wouldn't leave me here alone. I just wanted to say, thank you." Shen said to Akali. Before he had noticed, Akali had stood up, leant over and given Shen a peck on the cheek and moved towards the door. Shen just sat there in stunned silence, completely lost for words.

"Come on you, Kennen will be wondering where we've got to!" Akali cheekily said as she left Shen's hospital room. Shen jumped up and bounded after Akali, like a little lovesick puppy chasing his owner.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Somewhere above Ionia, floating high in the sky, out of reach and out of site is the Celestial Fortress, home to the Dark Sovereign, Syndra, and today it houses Zed and Kennen too. "I wonder why it's taking them so long," Kennen blurted impatiently. "We've been away for hours! Surely Soraka wouldn't take that long? And they couldn't have gotten lost, Shen's the eye of twilight, he can see where we are!"

"Calm down, please," A deep, but weak voice came from the bed behind the little yordle.

"Zed, will you please lie back down and rest. The doctor said that the one condition of me taking you here is to keep you safe and to make sure you rest, so rest!" Syndra, sat next to the bed, said firmly.

"She's right, I know I'm little but I'm a doctor you know." Kennen reminded Zed; he liked to remind people whenever he could because some people tended to forget.

"Exactly." Syndra agreed. With a huff and a sigh, Zed lay back down on to the pillow behind him. "Good. You're finally listening to me." She joked. There was a loud knock at the door.

"Yay! It must be them!" Kennen said excitedly and scarpered off to the front door.

"He has so much energy." Zed said looking at Syndra through his cold steel mask.

"I know, and it can be a bit annoying, but it's so cute to see how much he cares for his friends." Syndra stood, leaned over and kissed Zed on the forehead before moving to leave the room. "I'll go and make sure our guests are comfortable." She left to catch up to Kennen.

Kennen opened the door to see Akali and Shen stood side by side, weary from the travel. He rushed toward them and gave Akali a massive tight hug. Kennen's head rested on Akali's stomach, just below her bosom, his arms wrapped round her waist, squeezing tightly. Shen ruffled Kennen's hair and wandered in to the temple. The door opened up in to a grand hall with polished wooden floors, pearly white walls trimmed with a red wood, engraved with a beautiful oriental pattern. Towards the back of the room, in each corner, were a set of stairs leading to a balcony that ran along the back of the hall and off to the sides. From within the doorway between the staircases, leading to a corridor came Syndra with open arms. "Welcome, to my humble abode." She shouted confidently, "Please, make yourselves at home." She gestured to the centre of the room, where there was a fire pit circled by large, red, square cushions. Kennen rushed over and sat on one of them, patting the cushion next to him and looking at Akali, asking her to sit beside him, so she did. Shen meandered over lastly, shutting the large wooden temple doors behind him, and sitting next to Akali, the trio making up half of the circle. Shen had never seen Syndra at home before, and couldn't believe how soft and sweet she seemed without the big purple helmet and scary power pulsating from her, just like a perfectly normal girl in her lazy outfit, still purple of course. Syndra came over and sat in the centre of the other side, facing the three ninjas. "How are you feeling Shen?" Syndra asked with concern in her voice.

"Never better," Shen replied whilst swinging his right arm, as if to prove that all was well.

"I trust the journey over wasn't too tiring?"

"Not at all," Akali replied.

"How's Zed?" Shen asked

"He's doing okay, the doctor says with a days' rest and plenty of food and drink, he'll be back to normal."

"That's a relief." Shen replied, obviously worried about his adopted brother.

"It's late, what say I show you to your rooms? Kennen, would you mind showing Shen? His is opposite yours, and I'll take Akali?" Syndra said standing up. "If you'd like to follow me." Akali stood promptly and followed Syndra to the far right of the hall, and up the staircase. Akali looked over her shoulder and saw Shen following Kennen up the opposite staircase and in to a room at the other end of the corridor. Once out of earshot, Syndra turned to Akali, saying "I gave you a room at this end, away from Kennen, just in case you and Shen needed a bit of privacy tonight." Syndra winked and Akali blushed. Once again Syndra had gone in to giddy school girl mode and started to waffle on about being in love and how wonderful it is. Syndra opened the door to the room, at the far end of the corridor revealing a massive 4 poster double bed in the centre, with red see through drapes hanging over the sides, a luscious, soft rug just to the side and beautifully carved drawers next to the bed and wardrobe beside the window. "So, what do you think?" Syndra asked the stunned ninja.

"It's gorgeous, I'm speechless. Much more luxurious than what we're used to."

"Good, I'm glad you like it! I took the liberty of picking out some of my pyjamas that you can borrow; they're in the top draw beside the bed. Oh, and there's a little surprise you might want to use later." Syndra winked at Akali, "Sweet dreams!" and left the room. Intrigued by what she meant by surprise, and exhausted from travelling, Akali made her way over to the bed. She rested her bag and Kama's by the wall, and sat herself down on the edge of the bed. Opening the top draw in the bedside cabinet revealed a selection of clothing. Firstly she rooted to the bottom to see what Syndra meant by surprise, and pulling out the bottom piece of clothing, she revealed a white garment. After slightly closer inspection, Akali could tell it was a kinky nurse outfit. In her mind, she could imagine Syndra giggling as she put the outfit in the drawer earlier that day. Tossing the outfit on top of her bag, she took the first item out. Akali could see that it was a gorgeous deep purple silk night gown; it had beautiful black lace across the deep V-neck and up the two straps. "Perfect." Akali thought as she slipped out of her clothes from that day and in to the pyjamas. The gown came to midway down Akali's thighs, and the V on the neck, dangerously close to revealing a little too much; luckily the lace covered the majority. A little embarrassed in the get-up, Akali looked at herself in the mirror, nervously trying to pull the gown down at the bottom without it being pulled too far down at the top. "It's ok," she thought, "No one's going to see me in this anyway." Akali flopped on to the bed behind her, snuggled up in the thick duvet and went to straight in to a deep sleep.

At the other end of the corridor, Kennen showed Shen in to his room. "Mine's just across the hall if you need anything!" Kennen said excitedly as he left the room, shutting the door behind him. Shen's room was identical to Akali's, with the big 4 poster bed in the centre. Shen wearily made his way over to the bed, dropping his bag in the middle of the floor as he went, he was exhausted. When nearing the bed, Shen could see a small slip of paper lay of the pillow, folded in half, and tied with a red ribbon. Shen picked up the note and flipped it over, and on the other side it read, "To my dearest Shen." He then proceeded to open the note to see what was inside. Carefully he untied the bow, and flipped the paper open, inside read;

My Dearest Shen,

Come to my room later

– The one at the other end of the hall –

When the night is at its blackest

I have something to show you

All my love, Akali x

Besides Akali's name was a kiss mark, left by someone wearing bright red lipstick. Suspecting a fake, he raised the note to his face and smelt the paper. Sure enough, it smelt exactly like Akali. "Maybe she did leave this here for him to find, only one way to find out," Shen thought to himself. He put his head on the pillow and began to think of what this note could mean, and waited patiently for the dead of night to fall.

Shen didn't get a wink of sleep in the hour he lay awake, waiting for the darkness. His mind was racing at the note and what it could possibly mean; he was finding it very hard to remain his usual calm, emotionless self. When darkness fell, he got up; slipped a deep blue dressing gown on, one Syndra had left out for him, and left his room. He crept silently along the corridor, one hand on the wall the entire way to guide his path. At the far end there was a window, with the moon bathing Akali's door in a silvery glow, guiding Shen to his destination. When he got to the door, he paused and took the note out of his pocket. He took a few deep breaths in to compose himself and read the note again, making sure he was definitely doing what it had asked. After reading it, he folded it in his left hand and knocked gently on the door, after all he didn't want to wake anyone else up.

"Who is it?" A tired Akali called from inside the room.

"It's me." Shen replied in a hushed tone.

"Come in." With that Shen slipped silently in to the room and shut the door behind him. He could see Akali's silhouette lay on the bed, so he moved towards the bed and sat down next to her. "I'm here, what do you want to show me?"

"Huh?" Akali replied, confused.

"The note you left? You said you had something to show me?"

"What note?"

"This one!" Shen gave Akali the note, and she lit a candle on the bedside cabinet so she could read it. The light revealed Akali's top half as she was propped up in bed reading. Shen couldn't help but notice how amazing purple looked on her, and how seductive the dress was. "I can't believe Akali owned something like this!" Shen thought to himself. His wild thoughts were interrupted when Akali spoke, "I didn't write this."

"What? Then who did?" Akali stood up quickly, a little too quickly, flashing Shen as she stood up in the short dress. Shen blushed and was stunned by how good she looked. Akali went straight over to the door, as if she had a purpose, and tried to open it. Locked. From the outside. At that point, a note was slipped under the door. Akali bent and picked it up, reading it aloud;

Shen & Akali,

Sorry, but it was me.

I've locked the door, and taken the key with me

I'll come get you in the morning

Have fun you two lovebirds!

Syndra a.k.a. Cupid

Akali scrunched the note in anger and embarrassment and threw it to the floor. Shen stood up and moved towards her. "I can't believe she'd do something like this!" Akali said in disgust. "First the seductive nightwear and sexy nurse outfit, then this!" Shen realised that of course this wasn't Akali's nightwear, she wouldn't own something like that, but couldn't resist thinking of her in a sexy nurse outfit. When he eventually got his mind out of the gutter, he placed a hand on Akali's shoulder and spoke, "Don't worry about it! For starter, that nightwear looks great on you, and regarding our current predicament, we can just sleep and wait until morning. Here, you take the bed and I'll sleep on the rug." Akali blushed at Shen's compliment and admired his chivalry.

"Don't be daft! I won't let you sleep on the floor; this bed is big enough for the two of us."

"Okay, as long as you don't mind."

"Of course not." Akali moved back to the bed and slid in to the same position she was in when Shen came in. Shen went over to the wardrobe to hang up his dressing gown before joining Akali. Akali watched from the bed as Shen took off his dressing gown to reveal a perfectly built torso, muscles rippling from shoulder to shoulder, accompanied by a full set of luscious abs, his Egyptian cotton bottoms covering his bottom half. She couldn't help but smile at how good Shen's masculine physique looked. He wandered over towards the bed and slipped in next to Akali, as he did so, Akali blew out the candle, leaving the room in darkness. The pair lay back to back in silence for a while in the darkness until Akali whispered, "Shen? Are you still awake?"

"Yes, you?"

"Yeah." A brief pause ensued. "Can I ask you a favour?"

"Of course Akali, what's up?"

"Do you think, that maybe, you could come a bit closer?" Without a moment's hesitation, Shen turned over and moved closer to Akali. He went right up behind her, so that his chest was pressed up against her back. She could feel the warmth of his body and the gentle breeze of his breath on the back of her neck. Shen reached around Akali's stomach with his muscular left arm and held her close. Akali used her arm to mimic Shen's, resting her hand on top of Shen's and their fingers naturally interlocked. Each one of them felt at ease and safe in each other's arms, with their new found comfort they both drifted peacefully off to sleep.


	8. Chapter 8

**Authors Notes:** Hey guys, as it comes to exam season, I will try to continue writing, but some release dates may be missed. I will try to get something out on the Tues/Thurs schedule I've been working on, but for now, here's chapter 8!

Chapter 8

The Sun rose over Ionia the next day, shining its warm morning glow through the blinds and on to the sleeping Syndra's face. She was woken up by the gentle kiss of the early morning Sun, and sat upright. Lay next to her, Zed was still snoring away, certainly seeming better in his self than the night before! She leant over, brushing her pearly white hair behind her ear and kissed his forehead before getting out of bed. Meandering over to the wall, where her purple silk nightgown hung, she remembered her note that she'd left for Shen to find the night before, hurriedly slipped on her gown and skipped upstairs to see what had happened. From coming up the stairs, she could see the chair that she'd wedged under the door handle the night before to stop a certain someone escaping and got a little bit excited that the two ninjas had spent the night together. Carefully and quietly she moved the chair to one side and opened the door just a tiny bit, peeking inside. Her view was of a topless Shen lay on his back, still sleeping calmly, and Akali resting her head on his chest with one arm reaching across him. Shen had his right arm wrapped around Akali ever so gently. It took everything Syndra had to not giggle childishly about the cuteness of the pair; she took a deep breath in and entered the room. Moving quietly over to the bed, she leant over and gently shook Akali's shoulder. "Wake up Akali, its morning," she whispered softly. Without a moment's hesitation, Akali's right fist came from around Shen's chest and punched Syndra square in the cheek. "OWWWW!" Syndra let out an almighty squeal at the punch as she fell to the floor, waking both Akali and Shen up.

"Oh my, I'm so sorry!" Akali said jumping up to Syndra's aid, not 100% sure it was her that hit Syndra, but sure enough to need to apologise.

"You better be!" Syndra snapped back gripping her cheek trying to stand back up.

"What just happened?" Piped up the dazed Shen, rudely awakened from his peaceful slumber.

"Your Mrs here just punched me when I tried to wake you two up!" Syndra sounded rather heated and upset at what had just happened. "I guess I should just let you sleep next time, and let Kennen find you two snuggling like before." She winked at the pair, who turned slightly away from one another blushing and looking down at their feet. "So, was cuddling all you got up to last night? Eh?" Syndra questioned, prying as much as she could, her painful cheek forgotten about in all her excitement.

"I think that's enough Syndra." Shen said in an authoritative tone as he gestured for her to leave the room.

"But please? Just some of the details?" Syndra almost begging at this point, back to the school girl mentality she always had when it came down to romance. She kept wittering on as Shen picked her up and threw her over his should to take her out of the room, putting her down just outside the door and going back in. Syndra sat there like a little lost puppy for about 5 minutes, not sure what to do before regaining composure and heading downstairs to start on breakfast.

Back inside the room, the topless Shen approached Akali, who was stood in the middle of the room, hands behind her back, looking down at her feet and twisting side to side, occasionally glancing up at Shen as he moved towards her.

"You don't have to stare you know," She spat quite bitterly towards Shen.

"I-I-I wasn't!" Shen replied.

"Well? Do you like it? The night gown I mean."

"Of course, it looks great on you." Shen's deep voice making Akali tingle all over from the compliment as he reached her, placing a hand on each of her arms and pulling her in to a hug. "Thank you for last night, I've not slept that well in years." Akali was lost for words, so happy that he was evidently as comfortable with her as she was with him. She reached up and pecked him gingerly on the lips, and he returned the kiss happily. "Right, I best get back to my room before Kennen suspects anything." Shen let Akali go, grabbed his dressing gown and left. Once she was sure Shen was out of earshot, she let out a little high-pitched scream at how happy she was and flopped back on to the bed with a smile from ear to ear.

After the 5 had eaten breakfast, they all convened around the fire to discuss what their next move would be. Zed sat at the back, legs crossed, arms in his lap. From on the highest cushion Zed could display his dominance over the group whilst in his home. Syndra sat to his right, leaning in towards her beloved. Opposite Zed sat Shen in a mirrored pose, the only difference being Zed's shiny metallic armour and Shen's deep blue ninja cloth. Akali was sat to Shen's right in her green and Kennen to his left in his purple. None of the Kinkou ninjas wore masks or headgear around allies such as these, but Zed did. He hadn't let any of the three see his face since the day he was banished and the shadows overwhelmed him, this is the way Zed wanted it to stay, for now at least. He was always self conscious about his face, only Syndra could see his face, because only she looks upon him with soft, sympathetic eyes when he has no mask.

"So, what's the plan?" Zed piped up first, with his mask slightly muffling his deep voice.

"Ultimately, we need to prove that master is behind the assassination attempt on you, and the assassination of father, but that isn't going to be easy..." Shen replied, giving an outline of what needed to be done.

"Okay, so for proof, we need proof. Anyone any bright ideas?" Zed opened the question to the group.

"How about we catch Katarina? We know that she's the one doing the killing, so could give us a witness?" Akali said.

"Yes, but how do we get her to talk? And would that be enough to convict someone like your master? Shen, any ideas?" Zed summarised, acting like the chairman and overseer of this meeting.

"Katarina's statement alone won't be enough to convict him. We need more, solid evidence that we can show people to overthrow him. Would Zilean or Ekko be able to use their Chronos abilities to rewind time and show us what he's been doing?"

"Ekko's is very limited, and can only be done in the immediate past, and isn't Zilean an old friend of your master? So would never turn his back on him?" Syndra's first input came in, "How about the Demacians?"

"You forget that Katarina and Garen have a bit of a romance going on!" Akali reminded Syndra, who stuck her tongue out childishly at Akali. "Maybe someone high up and respected in Ionia? Someone like Irelia?"

"Irelia, her and I don't get on too well! Plus, she's only really respected for her brute strength, not her intellect or wisdom. Perhaps Karma? Her opinion and judgement is unquestioned by all, if she says something, it goes." Silence followed from Zed's suggestion, "That settles it then, we will bring Karma in to this, get her to witness master and Katarina's meetings and note passing's, then we capture Katarina and make her talk. Sound good?" All in the group exchanged glances and nods of approval. "Syndra, you go to Karma and speak to her. You have had dealings with her in the past and she'll hopefully understand. Kennen, Akali, I leave it to you to find a way to spy on your master, follow him and find out when and how he meets with Katarina. Shen, you and I have some business we must attend to with our favourite red head." Zed delegated a role to each individual, "We begin tomorrow morning." Each team or person separated and began to plan their roles in the uprising soon to come...


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

As night fell that day, everyone retired to their own rooms, everyone except Akali that is. Akali decided to have a wander outside. It was a still night, with only the gentlest of breezes, peaceful and tranquil. The dark nights sky lit up by the silvery full moon alongside the millions of tiny stars speckling the sky like thousands on fireflies. Akali had wandered to the edge of Syndra's island, and sat cross legged facing the expansive world below. To either side of her were two cherry blossom trees in full pink bloom, and with every gentle whisper of the breeze petals twirled to the ground around her. She sat here, a whirlwind of thoughts going through her head. Although it was a calm, peaceful night, it most certainly wasn't that way in Akali's mind. She was anxious to whether Syndra would manage to persuade Karma to help, nervous about spying on her master, the man who had helped her through thick and thin until now, and most of all, worried. Her worry was, of course, for Shen. Katarina was not an easy target; she had slipped through the triumvirate many times, and murdered countless people. Plus, both Zed and Shen had been injured by her recently, could Soraka's healing really got them back to fighting fit already? Then there's Zed. A man shrouded in darkness and mystery. Akali wasn't sure she could completely trust a man so deeply enthralled by the shadows, even if he was a childhood friend and adopted brother of Shen's. If that wasn't bad enough, Akali was worried that if Zed could take down Katarina with only Shen's help, does that mean he's better than her? She felt threatened that her title of the fist of shadow would be taken away from her. "But that probably doesn't matter now anyway, seeing as we've gone rogue from the order anyway," Akali thought out loud.

"What doesn't matter?" Said a familiar velvety voice from behind her. Akali bolted upright and spun quickly. Seeing it was Shen, she ran towards him and threw her arms around his neck.

"You startled me," Akali whispered in to Shen's ear, who had now wrapped his arms round her waist and pulled her close.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to," Shen said calmly, "I could see you from my window as I couldn't sleep either, so I thought I'd come and keep you company."

"Thank you, what is it you used to say to me? Something to do with presence?" Pulling back from the hug and sticking her tongue out cheekily at Shen.

"Your presence is soothing." Shen replied with embarrassment. Akali came towards him and buried her head in to his chest.

"Yeh, that's it." She said softly, blushing slightly too. Shen put his right arm across her back, and his left on her head, holding her tight to his chest. He kissed the top of her head before resting it on top of hers. The pair stayed in this tight embrace below the cherry blossom trees, under the starry sky miles above Ionia for a long time, so very comfortable in each other's arms.

"Listen, I know you're worried about tomorrow, I can see it in your eyes, you don't need to be Kennen to see that." Shen pulled back from Akali slightly, and reached above his head and grabbed one of the cherry blossom flowers. "Here, take this," he threaded the flower into Akali's hair, "As long as you have this flower, you know I'll always be with you, watching over you." Akali's eyes began to tear up at how sweet Shen was being, through the choking on her tears she muttered a thank you, grabbed Shen's head and kissed him more passionately than ever before. Not knowing when they'll see each other again, Shen returned this kiss with even more passion. After a while of this, Shen beckoned for Akali to come with him, took her hand and led her back inside to his room. Once inside, Shen picked up Akali and threw her down on to the bed like a doll. He locked the door and pulled off his top revealing his extremely well defined chest, Akali couldn't help but blush, with slight hesitation, she did the same. Shen jumped on top of her, kissing her passionately once again. He began to kiss down her soft neck, and Akali began letting out little whimpers, not expecting a simple kiss to feel this nice. "Wait, stop! What if Kennen hears us?!" Akali whispered with alarm in her voice.

"Don't worry, that yordle can sleep through anything. Just enjoy yourself." Shen whispered calmly, before moving his kissing further down her.

The pair of Ninjas didn't get much sleep that night, completely enthralled by their feelings for one another, made even more exciting by the fact they might not see each other again if things went badly this next day. As the Sun peaked through the curtains, a knock came at the door, followed by a whisper, "Shen, Shen, wake up!" Shen didn't wake at the first time, nor the second, but by the third time, when the knock and whisper got a little louder he woke. He looked down and peaked under the covers, just to confirm what he thought had happened the night before, to make sure it wasn't just a dream. Sure enough he was happy to see a completely naked Akali lay on his chest, much like the day before, just with fewer clothes. The knock came again. Fortunately, Shen had now woken up enough to know that it was Syndra at the door. With that knowledge, he slid out from under Akali, resting her head on the pillow and covering her enough so that she was decent. He grabbed his dressing gown and slipped it on, opening the door quickly so Syndra didn't wake either Akali or Kennen up with another knock. Before Shen could say anything, Syndra barged in, completely ignoring Shen and rushing over to the bed. Shen shut the door behind her and turned to face Syndra who was over by the bed, he didn't expect Syndra to have done what Shen just witnessed. She had pulled back the covers on the sleeping Akali to reveal her bare top half. Leaving the covers off, she turned and squealed running over and hugging Shen.

"I knew it! I knew it! I thought I heard some amorous activities going on last night!" Syndra squealed with excitement but in a hushed tone as to not wake anyone else up. Shen stood there, not really knowing what to say or do. By this point, the mixture of Syndra's squealing and knocking, being moved by Shen, and the fresh morning breeze now circulating over her bare chest, Akali had began to wake up. She firstly sat up and looked around the room to see an excited Syndra hugging a very confused looking Shen on one side, and the morning Sun poking through the blinds on the other. "What's going on?" She asked in a sort of daze. She shivered and noticed feeling cold and looked down to see why she was feeling cold. To her dismay, her breasts were completely exposed. "Ah!" She screamed whilst grabbing up some duvet to cover herself. "SYNDRAAAA!" Akali scowled at the white haired mage who was trying to look innocent, and struggling to do so.

"Me?" She inquired in a high pitched tone whilst pointing at her own face. She giggled, "Kennen will be up soon, and I'm sure you won't want him to see this!" Infuriated, Akali stood up, with the duvet completely wrapped around her, ran out the room with her head down with embarrassment and down the corridor to her own room. "Get yourself ready big boy, it's a big day!" She said cheekily, looking down at Shen's waist line and leaving the room. Shen hadn't noticed, but seeing Akali naked like that had gotten him a little excited once again. Shen blushed and shut the door behind Syndra.

After everyone had eaten and prepared for the day, there was a little bit of time to relax and make some final preparations before setting off. Syndra had already left to speak with Karma, Akali and Kennen were the next to leave. From his room, Shen could see Akali sat below the cherry blossom trees once again, just like the night before. In her haste earlier that morning, Akali had left the flower Shen had given her on his bedside table, with that in hand, Shen headed down to see her.

Shen walked quietly behind her, and threaded the flower in to her hair once again. "You almost forgot this," He said softly as he turned to leave.

"Please stay, sit with me." Akali asked with a quiver in her voice.

"Of course," Shen took his place to Akali's right, sat with legs straight out in front of him, and hands propping him up on either side. Akali reached out with her right hand, and rested it on top of Shen's left.

"Promise me; promise me you'll come back safely. Promise me we'll see each other again on the other side of this." Akali's eyes filled with tears again.

"Of course Akali, I will never leave you alone in this world. I will always be with you, in here." He gestured to her chest, roughly where her heart lies. With the tears rolling down her cheeks, Akali reached over and hugged Shen, and pecked him on the cheek. "Thank you," She whispered in to his ear. She pulled back and returned to the cross legged position she was in before Shen arrived, slightly conscious to who could be around watching. Once her tears had stopped, and she had regained some composure, she said "Oh, and thank you for last night. I've never had that much fun or ever felt that nice and excited before." She turned and winked at Shen before standing up and walking over towards the house to find Kennen.

"Me too! Thanks!" Shen called after her after regaining some composure. He looked back forwards over the edge of the island over Ionia, happier than he had been in a long time, all thanks to Akali.

That's when he knew, he loved Akali.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Before long, Akali and Kennen had left to find a way of spying on the Kinkou master and it was just Zed left with Shen at the house. The pair still had quite a bit of time before they had to head out. They had to wait for Syndra to come back, hopefully with Karma, so that they can spy on the master and meet with Katarina before the two ninjas could jump out and catch the Noxian assassin. Shen was sat below the cherry blossoms, happily thinking about Akali and replaying the previous evening's activities, when he heard Zed shout from behind, "Hey! Come here a minute!" After a brief pause, Shen rose from the ground and wandered back over to the house where Zed was calling from. Entering through the grand front door, in to the main hall, Shen couldn't see Zed anywhere, so called after him. A response came from a little down the corridor to the right, below where Akali's bedroom is, and so Shen followed. Zed was waiting at the end of the corridor, looking out of a window, his back to Shen. Something was different with how Zed was dressed today, instead of his usual silver armour, he was dressed in a white robe with a deep red trimming, and however, the major difference was with his head. Zed had no mask on. His short blonde hair moved slightly in the gentle draft coming from the window. Without turning, Zed asked Shen to follow him, and began down a staircase to his right, still not showing his face. The staircase was dark and dingy; it seemed to go on forever. Before long, Shen could see a flicker of light, which he thought must be the bottom and quickened his pace to get in to the light. Turning the corner, the dark, small corridor housing the staircase opened up in to a large wooden room with a low ceiling, just tall enough for him to stand straight. The room was lit by candles hanging around the walls, and a fireplace opposite where Shen stood, at the entrance. Directly in front of Shen was Zed, stood arms open wide and a massive smile on his face. "Welcome!" He said, "To my sanctuary!" Zed could have said anything at that point, and it wouldn't have mattered. This was the first time in 10 years that Shen had looked upon the face of his brother, the first time he'd ever looked at Zed after their Father was killed, and the first time Shen had ever seen Zed's scars... Shen's eyes began to well up, and he ran towards Zed, throwing his arms round his back. Zed hugged Shen back. "It's been too long Brother," Shen proclaimed.

"Too long," Zed agreed. "I have some things to show you." He pulled back from the hug and turned. "You remember when we used to play this? Back at the old temple? Well I had a new table specially made!" He pointed at the table tennis table in the centre of the room, the thing they did most to pass time when they were younger, that and sparring. Zed excitedly hopped to the other side of the table and got out the paddles. Not much had changed about Zed's appearance, besides his scars. His hair, still the same short blonde locks it used to be, his eyes still deep blue, much like Shen's just a slightly different shade, and the same strong jaw line that made the girls flaunt over him in their teenage years. The only difference being the nasty scars. One scar ran right the way down one side of his face, from just above his left eye, down to his mouth level on that side. And the other started close to the bottom of his left eye, across the bridge of his nose, across his cheek and off the edge of his face just below his right ear. Shen could understand why he always wore the mask now, but for him, he was the same old Zed he used to be, the same brother, adopted or not. Shen didn't stop and stare or mention the scars at all, he just picked up his paddle and they began an intense game of table tennis. The game went on for ages, neither one of them winning by 2 clear points, and when they eventually started getting tired; they came to the conclusion of a draw. A conclusion neither of them were happy with! After the game, Zed moved towards one corner of the room, and sat down in front of a large red drape covering something. "He always was a fan of red," Shen thought to himself as he sat down besides Zed.

"I have something to show you," Zed said rather subdued as he pulled back the drape to reveal a shrine of sorts. Shen turned to Zed, to see him on his knees, head on the floor with hands just in front, bowing or praying, Shen couldn't be certain. He looked back at the shrine, and on closer inspection could see a painting of their father in the centre, surrounded by candles and the wooden shuriken that their father had given Zed when he first came to the temple. With his pale blue eyes glazing over and welling up with tears, Shen copied Zed's pose and paid his respects to his dad.

Zed was the first to rise from their pose, and he tapped Shen on his shoulder, but before Zed could say anything, Shen had embraced him. "I'm so sorry for ever accusing you Zed. Thank you for letting me have this opportunity for a final farewell, something master would not let me do." Shen mumbled in between his tears.

"And thank you for judging me on my scars, brother." Zed replied just as solemnly. A bang could be heard from upstairs followed by a shout of "I'm home!" Evidently, Syndra had returned from her travels.

"You go on ahead, I just need to change." Zed said whilst gesturing towards the stairs for Shen to proceed.

Shen entered the main hall from the left corridor to see Syndra sat on the opposite side of the fire, facing him. Opposite Syndra, however, was an unfamiliar figure to Shen, from behind, he could make out that it was a female, with short brown hair with a golden circlet on the top. The lady was clothed in an elaborate purple dress, trimmed with gold. Shen could tell that this was a hand crafted, traditional Ionian dress, meaning by process of elimination, this lady was the enlightened one, Karma.

"Ah! Shen! Come, sit with us!" Syndra shouted across the room and patted the pillow besides her for him to come and sit, so he obliged. From this position he could see Karma from the front. She was sat cross legged, with her hands placed gently into her lap. Her dress was slit on both sides, meaning her legs were bare. Upon her left leg was a green tattoo, detailed in design, which swirled around her like a vine wrapping around a tree trunk. The same tattoo made its way up Karma's arms as well. Shen could now see the front of her circlet had a large emerald in the centre, making this the centre of her forehead. She has both her eyes shut, seemingly deep in meditation but Shen couldn't help but think that for a priestess, she is a very pretty woman. Zed appeared behind Karma, fully clothed in his usual silver armour. He made his way over and sat to Syndra's right. Without opening her eyes, Karma spoke "I hear you have reason to believe the master of the Kinkou order is in league with the Noxians?"

"Yes," Shen replied, and began to explain the reasoning behind these accusations, starting with that one raid to catch Katarina, and ending with Katarina's second attempt at assassinating Zed.

"The evidence seems to suggest an alliance you're right. However, I cannot pass judgement, nor can I prosecute your master without hard evidence that could stand in a court." Karma calmly explained.

"Yes, and that is why we have called you here. We intend on you accompanying Akali and Kennen to witness the master doing such acts first hand." Karma's eyes opened widely, revealing a pair of deep brown eyes, now staring Shen down.

"You do realise that this is treason for your order? You will become banished if you are wrong with your accusations?" Karma seemed more agitated and shocked now.

"Yes, I know. That should show you how I feel." Shen replied calmly. Karma's eyes shut once again.

"Okay. I will do this. I cannot allow Noxian influence on one of our top ranking individuals. The corruption he could cause from his position needs to be stopped." Karma paused briefly opening one eye, and with a small grin spoke "So, when do we begin?"


	11. Chapter 11

**Author's notes:** Hello one and all! Starting to get in to the nitty gritty bits of this story now, I hope you enjoy where it's going, if you do, or if you have any improvements let me know in the review section! You guys can decide how this goes on! Happy reading!

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Chapter 11

In the treetops just outside the Kinkou temple, hid Akali and Kennen. They were lurking in the darkness, thinking about how they were going to catch their master red handed. "What do we actually know that we might be able to use for this?" Kennen asked, seemingly defeated before they'd even begun.

"Well we know they exchange notes right?" Akali replied, trying to lift his spirits.

"I suppose. But how do they exchange notes without anyone else knowing?"

"I'm not sure, I would have thought Katarina came here, master went to her or they met in the middle? But I've never seen master leave the grounds in the entire time I've lived here, and I'm pretty sure Katarina couldn't come close to here without Shen picking up on her presence..." Akali was thinking aloud at this point, throwing around some ideas she had floating around in her head.

"What about if they used a courier? Master could easily persuade one of the apprentices to do so. They'll do anything he asks."

"You're right! There could be a 3rd party!" Akali exclaimed in a hushed tone, seemingly surprised at Kennen's moment of wisdom.

"Okay, you don't have to be so surprised. I'm not that stupid." Kennen mumbled bowing his head. Akali reached over and ruffled the top of his head, simulating ruffling his hair if he wasn't wearing his headgear.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to be condescending. It's a very well thought out idea." She smiled gently at him which perked his spirits a bit. After a brief awkward silence of Kennen staring lovingly in to Akali's eyes, Akali continued to say, "Right, back to stalking," And the pair turned back to keep watch on the gate.

Back at the Celestial Fortress, Shen, Zed and Karma were preparing to set out. Syndra, being the loving fiancée that she is, had made sandwiches for 'her cutie pie and his friends' before sending them on their way with a wish of good luck. "Does she always call you cutie pie?" Shen asked Zed when out of Syndra's earshot.

"Unfortunately," Zed muttered, embarrassed. "She likes to make up pet names, that one is just the latest of many." Shen couldn't help but chuckle a bit about how tough masculine Zed was someone's 'cutie pie'. He thought to himself that maybe he should think of some for Akali, he wondered whether she'd like that or not. The unlikely trio walked in almost silence from then on, moving to the rendezvous point they'd previously decided on with Akali and Kennen, just a little ways out from the temple, a clearing with a lone tree in the centre. When darkness fell the group came upon the clearing, Zed and Karma sat at the base of the lone tree, exhausted, whilst Shen climbed to the top. He stood effortlessly atop the huge willow tree, eyes closed, using the eye of twilight to see where his counterparts were up to.

Meanwhile, hidden in the canopy outside the Kinkou temple, Kennen sat on a branch, snoring. Akali, sat on the branch next to him thought how tired that little body of his must be after a full day of travelling, stalking and most importantly, not eating! Her stomach growled at the thought of not eating whilst regretting not eating more at breakfast before they'd left. With Kennen asleep besides her, she let her mind wander back to the previous night with Shen. She kept playing back how sweet he was with the flower, whilst floating above Ionia, and what a kind, considerate man he is. Of course, she thought back to her first time, the amorous activities that occurred that night too, and how Shen had made her feel more like a woman than ever before. Unfortunately for Akali, her thoughts were interrupted by the creaking of the wooden gates opening slowly. She nudged Kennen to get him to wake up. Startled, Kennen stood quickly and wobbled on the branch. Unable to keep his balance, he fell. Luckily there was a bush below to break his fall, and his tiny featherweight body barely made a sound. He stayed in the bush down by the roadside to get a different angle from what Akali could see. The gates had opened just enough for one horse width to creep through, and sure enough, out from the gates burst a hooded figure, dressed all in black on a black stallion. Akali recognised the horse, it was their master's! But she could tell that the figure atop the horse definitely wasn't him. Kennen looked up at Akali from where he lay, and they nodded to one another, the sign to follow. Akali stood on the branch and began to hop between trees, following the horseman, whilst Kennen did the same from the undergrowth, too small to be seen above the bushes. From his angle, Kennen could look up at the figure. Under the cloak and attached to the waist, he could see a roll of parchment. The parchment was sealed with a ruby red seal, identical to that on the note Shen had found, that first failed attempt to capture Katarina. He knew that if he made a move to capture this person, Akali would follow up. Although Akali didn't like being the backup, she was a great team player and Kennen knew she'd help him. When he knew they were far enough from the temple, Kennen charged his slicing Maelstrom and leapt from the bush at the horseman. He removed the figure from their seat and stunned both man and beast in one foul sweep. Akali jumped down from the canopy and steadied the horse, whilst Kennen approached the hooded figure that now lay on the ground unable to move. As he approached the figure, the stun began to wear off, but Kennen had his shuriken primed and ready if they tried to make a run for it. As he got near them, Kennen could see a slightly odd feature that he did not expect. "This person has tremendous curves for a man," He thought to himself, "And a rather large chest, they must work out regularly. Wait; is that long hair too from under the hood?" He gasped audibly before speaking, "You're a girl?!"

"You sound shocked Kennen, could you not tell who this was from watching her ride? No one I know rides a horse better than her." Akali said also approaching the girl; holding on to the horses reigns loosely she bent over and removed the hood from her. Lay on the ground was a young looking brunette, awkwardly grinning at the pair. Akali turned on her heel and walked away saying "You were right in it being one of the apprentices! This is Kay. Come on, we need to get to the meeting point."

"You heard the lady, get moving." Kennen said as intimidating as he could in his high pitched voice. The three plus the horse began the short walk to the clearing, where the others waited.

Shen descend the tree to rejoin Zed and Karma at the base and sat down besides them. "Looks like we've made progress," He informed them calmly, "they'll be with us momentarily." Sure enough, the group appeared from the tree line no more than 5 minutes after Shen had joined Zed and Karma. Leading them was Kay, a young girl, perhaps 18 years old with wavy blonde hair drooped over her shoulders, a pale face speckled with freckles across her nose and big blue eyes. She was being forced in the general direction of the tree by the little prick of Kennen's shuriken in her bum as that's as high as he could reach up her back. Behind them was Akali, leading the masters jet black horse. Akali tied the horse to the tree, and sat with the rest around a small fire Karma had made. Kay sat between Kennen and Akali, slightly nervous around the 3 triumvirate, Zed and Karma. 5 people that could kill her instantly alone, never mind together. Knowing this made her extremely compliant with the group's wishes. "We caught Kay here, hooded on master's horse riding out with haste after darkness" Kennen proudly announced to the group, like showing a prize-winning fish he'd just caught.

"Kay, what's that on your belt? Would you mind handing it over?" Shen said calmly, gesturing to the sealed roll of parchment at her right hip.

"Oh this? It's just something Master asked me to take up the road, I don't know what it's about or anything, I just got told to give it to a red head in a cloak at the inn at the port, like I always do. Master says it'll help me climb the ranks to become a ninja quicker." She explained nervously whilst handing the parchment over. Shen and Zed exchanged glances at the mention of a red head, knowing its Katarina. Cautiously, Shen broke the seal, opened the letter and read it aloud to the group. It read;

My dearest Katarina,

The purpose of this note is to inform you, that my own triumvirate have gone rogue.

I believe they are in league with Zed at this time.

I advise you exercise caution, and only go for an assassination on Zed if you see fit.

This will be my last note until things settle.

Many thanks,

You know who.

Kay sat in stunned silence at what she'd just heard. Her master was in league with Katarina, the Noxian assassin? She was more shocked that she had been meeting with the sinister blade on a regular basis and hadn't been able to tell. Upon realising this, Kay hung her head in shame. "Hey, chin up." Akali spoke to Kay, lifting her chin with her hand, "you weren't to know who it was or what they were doing." Kay took comfort in Akali's words, and raised her head to listen in on what was going on. Silence prevailed, and all eyes were on Shen as he devised a plan. Eventually, he spoke up, "Looks like we intervened just in time! Right, I expect the master will be waiting on a reply to this note, yes? And as we now know it was a young woman who master entrusted with the delivery task, I think we should dress Karma in Kay's clothes, send her back to the temple with Akali and Kennen for support, and capture him. Then and there. This way, we can prove that this note wasn't passed on by someone else and just written to frame master, and Karma can judge for herself the masters involvement. How does that sound for everyone?" Nods went around the circle or peers, and Karma thanked Shen for thinking everything through, meaning no doubt was in her verdict. Kay looked around the group, sensing holes in the plan. After not making eye contact with anyone, she spoke up, "What about Katarina? She's expecting me to meet her tonight!"

"Don't you worry young one. I believe me and Zed have a bone to pick with her." Shen replied with a nod of approval from Zed. "And I think it's time you get your first experience in the field, if that's ok with you?"

"It'd be an honour Sir. Please allow me to escort you to our usual meeting point." Kay's eyes lit up with excitement. To work alongside Shen is an absolute honour, plus it gives her the chance to make right what she'd unknowingly done wrong and who knows, she may even learn a thing or two. Karma and Kay swapped clothes very quickly, and, after eating Syndra's carefully made sandwiches, Akali, Kennen and Karma set off on horseback for the Kinkou temple. Kay's bleach blonde hair and pale skin really didn't suit the elaborate Ionian dress Karma was previously wearing, so Shen promised that at the next shop they saw, they'd stop and try to find something a little more suitable. The two brothers and the tag along then set off towards the sea.


	12. Chapter 12

**Author's notes:** Hey everyone, this is going to be the last chapter for a week or so because I have some essays due in I haven't done yet! I'll be sure to put another chapter out as soon as possible. Sorry! I've done a longer, slightly more action filled chapter (I hope), so I hope you all enjoy it! I'll be back soon!

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Chapter 12

The unlikely trio of Shen, the ninja master, Zed, the shadow master and Kay, the apprentice walked swiftly through the woods. Kay strode out in front, leading the way to the rendezvous point with Katarina, behind her, Zed and Shen walked side by side. Every now and again out of the corner of his eye, Shen caught Zed's gaze drift down to the young girl's backside and exposed legs in her elaborate Ionian attire, and every time, Shen pinched Zed's arm and gently reminded him he had a fiancée at home waiting for him. Out of fear of what Syndra might do to him if she found out, Zed eventually stopped. "Have we got a plan for when we actually get there?" Kay shouted back to the two gentlemen.

"I'm thinking about it," Shen replied.

"We storm in, knock her out, and carry her back to the Kinkou temple, right?" Zed said inquisitively, and very sure of himself.

"You think it's going to be that easy? Me, Kennen and Akali have attacked together in the past and she still managed to give us the slip. We need a plan, a strategy. Kay any thoughts? You see her weekly right? Do you know anything that might help us?"

"Thinking about it, she never sails over on a Noxian ship. It's always a great big Demacian galleon." Kay continued to witter on about why Katarina probably doesn't come over on a Noxian ship, unaware the two ninjas had stopped listening. The boys locked eyes. Knowing exactly who's ship that is, and they knew how to catch Katarina. "Hey, Kay?" Shen said loudly, interrupting Kay's mutterings. "You don't happen to know the name of that ship do you?"

"Sure, it's the 'Pride of Demacia'." Shen's eyes lit up. He was right. It was Garen.

Meanwhile, heading back towards the Kinkou temple, were Akali, Kennen and the temporary ninja, Karma. Sat on top of the master's horse was Karma, making sure she remembered how to ride a horse after so many years, with Akali leading the horse to her left and Kennen skipping along to the right. About halfway back towards the temple, they stopped and hatched a plan. This plan consisted in Karma riding straight in, tying the horse in the usual spot; which she had been informed on by Akali, and walking straight in unnoticed. Being unnoticed was pretty easy when she was dressed in all black with a large hood covering her face, so that seemed like an accomplishable task. Once inside, Karma was to wait for Kennen and Akali, who were sneaking in through the emergency exit under the temple. It was built for easy escape, just in case of siege of the temple. They were to meet just inside the central spire, out of sight. Karma was then to enter the master's room and hand him the note they had written, whilst Akali and Kennen watched for his reaction. That would give Karma the necessary time to make an assessment on the master's guilt and time for the two ninjas to swoop in and arrest him. With the plan hatched, they turned to continue their trek towards the temple.

Back on the road to the port, Zed and Shen were discussing their plan. Originally, they were hoping to taunt Garen to come off his ship and to hold him hostage that part the two trained ninjas and an assassin could do. The problem arose when they realised a big Demacian galleon probably has a crew to sail it. Silence had fallen whilst they each pondered a way round the crew when Kay stopped suddenly and spun to face them. "Here it is! The port!" Kay preached excitedly, and the two boys locked eyes once again. "Wait, what did I do?" Kay quizzed after noticing the look on Shen's face.

"Oh, nothing, you're just a vital part of our plan," Shen replied rather menacingly, and the three took to the bushes to discuss their plan.

From where they were, they could see the galleon. As it was still night, the deck only had four guards on it, two stationed by the gangway, and two outside what is assumed to be the captain's quarters. "Right, this is what I've got." Shen said in a hushed tone to his two associates. "Kay, you approach the gangway in that dress and try to seduce the two soldiers away from their post. Use your womanly ways to get them off that ship, heaven knows you've already had someone's attention tonight dressed like that." Zed punched Shen pretty hard in the arm and Kay looked down, blushing. After a giggle, Shen continued, "Whilst the two guards are dealing with you, we'll slip on to the ship. Zed I need you to take out the two positioned by the captains quarters, silently. By take out I don't mean kill them either, just knock them out or something ok?" Zed sighed and nodded, obviously preferring to just kill them because that would have been easier. Shen carried on with the plan, "After that, we'll sneak in to the captain's quarters, kidnap Garen, and leave. Once you've seen us leave, you need to leave the guards Kay, use the excuse of needing a drink and head to the inn. Give this note to Katarina and leave immediately, don't let her read it before you leave as your life would then be in danger. Come and meet us a little ways up the path towards the temple. There we'll tie Garen to a tree and when Katarina comes to take him back, we strike. Everyone clear?"

"Crystal." Zed responded, happy to finally get some action and fighting. With that, Kay stood and left, Shen's note to Katarina on torn parchment tucked in to her top.

Shen and Zed watched from behind a building as Kay moved towards the gangway. She walked in such a way that her hair bounced and her hips swayed, sure to captivate any man's eyes, her swaying hips had sure had certainly captured Zed's, he couldn't keep his eyes off her. Shen however was much more alert, watching the reactions of the two guards, now watching Kay approach. Upon closer inspection, Shen could see that one of the guards was actually a woman. Expecting certain failure, Shen readied his blade in case they moved to arrest Kay, but much to his surprise, it was the female guard that showed the most interest. With a sigh of relief, Shen watched as the two guards came off the ship and came towards Kay, who threw herself on to the female guard blurting something about how pretty and strong she was. He had to hand it to her; Kay was doing a damn fine job. Shen grabbed Zed's arm, pulling him out of the trance Kay had put him in and left towards the ship. Staying in the shadow they sneaked behind the guards and up the gangway. Whilst Shen hid in the shadows, Zed went about his business, knocking out both guards in one fell swoop. They both fell towards the centre where Zed stood, ready to catch the two of them so that they didn't bang on falling to the deck. Shen peaked through the keyhole to see that the quarters was dimly lit inside, suggesting Garen was asleep. He could also tell that the door was locked by doing this. "Hey, Zed, can you still do that nifty trick with your shadows where you can hop through walls?" Shen whispered up to Zed.

"You mean like this?" And with that Zed disappeared. Moments later, the door swung open slowly to reveal Zed stood calmly like nothing had happened.

"Yeh, exactly like that," Shen chuckled. The pair wandered over to the sleeping Garen, on a double poster bed in the centre of the room, his brown bangs resting softly on his head, hands woven together on his chest, almost like a sleeping princess can kill you in one swing of his sword. Zed used the same trick as before and knocked him out cleanly. Shen just about managed to put Garen over his shoulder before leaving the room. He thought how much lighter Syndra was a few days earlier when he removed her from Akali's room and smirked at the memories he'd made with Akali those last few days. "What are you smiling at?" Zed inquired, after noticing Shen's smile.

"Oh nothing. Now, let's go." The two left the room and swiftly left the ship, dashing for the cover of the buildings and up towards the trapping point. After seeing the pair leave the ship, Kay ditched the guards and left for the inn, she wondered how the two ninja's would manage an escape as when the guards got back to their posts, they'd surely see the other two on the floor right? Little did she know that Shen had thought about that, and propped the two unconscious guards against the wall of the ship, making it look like they were still okay.

Kay entered the inn and made her way over to where Katarina was sat. She was more nervous this time as she now knew who she was dealing with. A trained killer. However, she did her best to hide it and act like normal. The apprentice took the note out of her bosom and handed it to her with a bow. "I apologise for the state of the letter, I assure you that if he could, my master would have made it appear better." Kay apologised to Katarina and disappeared before Katarina could get a good look at her. Sat at the corner of the bar, Katarina read the note, written on a scrap of parchment Shen had torn off the master's original letter. It read:

My dearest Katarina,  
Should you ever want to see your beloved again,

Come up the path towards the temple.

We have him, and we don't miss like you do.

Love, your failed assassinations.

Her deep green eyes began to tear up. She scrunched the note in her right hand in anger and stood. As she stood, her hood fell on to her shoulders revealing her luscious, long red hair, pearly skin and her long scar, streaking down her face. Her scar had a striking resemblance to Zed's, the only difference being hers was on her right side, and Zed's on his left. Tears had begun to roll down her face, the only weakness in her otherwise perfect assassin demeanour, her love for Garen, had been exploited.

A bit further down the road, Kay joined the two brothers who just finished up gagging and tying Garen with rope they stole from his ship. The tree they picked was at the back of a small clearing, with only one way out, back towards the port. This place was off the path, but only slightly. It was a semi-circle of trees with a gap in the centre as the only entrance, and at the back was a cliff face. Ionia as a nation is a fairly mountainous island, and the port sat just outside of the main mountain range, meaning there were mountains on one side, and forest to the other. Shen was confident they could catch Katarina in this spot, even without the speed of Kennen and Akali. He could also see that Katarina was approaching fast, so made sure everyone was hidden, Zed in the tree that Garen was tied to, Kay to the side closest the port, and Shen hidden by the entrance. They didn't have to wait in hiding long until Katarina burst in to the clearing without once checking the surroundings or seeing if it was a trap. She ran straight over to Garen, fell to her knees and placed her head on his. Shen could see the tears flooding down her face and could sense the distress and worry he had caused her. He began to feel sorry for her at the dirty plan he'd devised, he knew he'd be the same if it were Akali who'd been kidnapped. Shen then shook his head, remembering that it was Katarina who had murdered his Father, attempted to kill his brother as well as himself and the countless others Katarina had ruthlessly slaughtered. Zed dropped behind her, his blade positioned against her throat. "We can do this the easy way, or the hard way. Your choice." Zed was stern in his threats, his deep voice could strike fear in to the heart of any enemy. Katarina turned to face him, tears in her eyes, "Please! Don't hurt him, he's done nothing wrong! Do whatever you want to me, but just leave my GarenWaren alone!" blurted Katarina who then fell to Zed's feet. Slightly shocked and disappointed by the sudden surrender, Zed took the rope from around his shoulder and tied Katarina's arms behind her back. He through her over his shoulder and began walking off. Shen moved towards Garen, untied him and asked Kay to come over. Shen and Zed took off, walking in to the sunrise in the east, the sobbing Katarina hung over Zed's shoulder. Katarina looked up to see her beloved Garen, barely awake, propped up by Kay, stumbling towards the port. When they reached the port, a mere 10 minute walk away, Kay took Garen to the gangway of his ship, saying to his guards he'd had a bit too much to drink and that he needed to be laid to bed. Once she'd offloaded Garen, she started the long, lonely walk back to the temple, wondering whether or not Garen had any clue what had just happened to him, and whether he'd remember a thing.


	13. Chapter 13

**Author's Notes:** Sorry for the long delay, but here's the next installment in Born from the Shadows! Hopefully this chapter brings a bit more drama as the story comes to its climax! Happy reading! :D

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Chapter 13

The walk back to the temple was a long, quiet one for the brothers, Zed and Shen. Neither one of them tried to make any sort of conversation, deep in their own thoughts. All they could hear was the crunch of the forest floor beneath their feet; the occasional tweet from a nearby owl or scurry from a forest creature and whimpers from the bound Katarina Zed was carrying. She was still crying intermittently, completely different to how the tough Katarina was perceived to be. Shen couldn't help but think of the other trio of ninjas, Akali, Kennen and Karma, and how they were getting on...

Just before they got to the temple, Akali and Kennen left Karma and entered the tree's canopy, just like they had to catch Kay, hidden in darkness. They followed Karma up unto the temple gates, making sure she was in okay before slipping to the hidden passage in. Karma had only been to the temple once or twice with her old master when she was only 15 years old. Surprised at how little it had changed, she found the point to tie the horse with ease and entered the front gate. The inside was still as she remembered it, no real change anywhere to be found, so again, she found the meet point easily. Waiting at the meet point, just inside the door to the central spire staircase was another 2 hooded figures, Karma knew this was Akali and Kennen, although she was shocked by the speed they got there. The 3 began up the wooden staircase to the office of the Master of the Kinkou Order. As they approached the door, Akali and Kennen hung back and allowed Karma to go on alone. With a gentle knock on the door she was beckoned in. There was no turning back now.

"Ah Kay, nice to see you once again!" The master said rather chipper, "Do you have the message from my friend?"

Karma approached with the note in her hand, outstretched to hand to the master. When she was close enough, the master grabbed the wrist of Karma instead of the note, and Karma let out a small yelp. "You can't have thought I'd full for this right?" the master said in a condescending tone. At that moment, two ninjas dressed in all black came from behind the curtains and grabbed Karma, tying her to the chair in the centre of the office. Being untrained in martial arts, Karma had no choice but to surrender easily as to not put her own life in danger. "Now then, you're going to help me." The master stared at Karma, "I seem to have a few rogue ninjas outside of that door, and you're going to call them in." Karma sat still and silently. "Any time today!" The master tone was slowly getting more aggravated but still Karma remained silent. After asking a few more times, the patience of the master was wearing thin, he pulled a small blade from the belt around his waist and held it to Karma's throat. "It'd be a shame to lose one of Ionia's greatest mage's this way, would it not?" Karma remained silent. She did not want to turn her friends in. The master pushed his knife into her neck harder, beginning to draw blood. As the blood began to trickle down her neck and on to the cape, tear's started to form in her eyes, this is not what she signed up for. Karma let out an almighty scream, hoping it was enough to warn her two friends. Then, her world went black.

Not too far out from the temple, down the same path the others had walked not too long ago, Shen and Zed were strolling home after a successful trip. Shen suddenly felt a sharp pain in his chest, and he knew something had gone wrong. This was one of the main burdens to being the eye of twilight, he knows everything as and when it happens. He looks at Zed and broke the silence, "We need to hurry. They're in danger." They broke out in to a sprint, the two ninja's equally matched in speed with Katarina bouncing on Zed's shoulder.

Outside the door, Kennen and Akali were wondering why this was taking so long, and were beginning to grow suspicious when they heard the scream. They looked at one another, threw their cloaks to the ground and burst in to the room with weapons ready. Akali scanned the room quickly, two dark figures to her left, the same on her right, in the centre of the room was the master, stood behind a chair holding a blade, dripping red, a deep crimson, the colour of blood. Akali suddenly became incredibly worried and as she looked down to the feet of the master, hands and feet still bound lay Karma, completely lifeless, a pool of blood had began to gather around her neck and spread across the floor. With rage in her eyes, Akali leapt straight for the master, Kama's ready. Kennen saw this and immediately called forth the power of the slicing maelstrom, stunning all 4 nearby ninja's. He knew his job was to dispatch of the ninja's whilst Akali went for the master, he knew right away that was a fair trade, Akali is the only one of the triumvirate to ever come close to beating the master, neither Shen nor Kennen were strong enough in combat.

Akali was swinging wildly at the master with her Kama's, her rage influenced her combat. The master dodged the erratic attacks with ease, taking a step either to the side or backwards to dodge each and every one, "You have let rage become your fuel," The master taunted Akali as she swung more. "You're no better than that idiot of a mother who came before you." The master knew exactly what he was doing. He was enraging Akali more and more, making her fight worse and worse. Akali's attack's sped up with each taunt, but got further and further from her target.

Kennen's finally knocked out the last ninja and looked towards Akali, seeing her erratic fighting style. Knowing that that isn't like Akali, he knew she was in a bad position, he ran over to try and help but the master kicked the small yordle with so much force that he flew out of the door he came through and out of the window opposite. As he fell to the floor of the courtyard below, he thought this is the end, he thought it was his turn to die here and now, he knew he wouldn't survive the fall. Before he knew it, he was caught by a strong pair of arms. He opened his small eyes with his vision blurred from the fight and the fall, locked eyes with the one whom had caught him, he knew instantly who it was, the eyes never lie after all. He muttered a few words "Akali, master, fighting..." before he fainted. Shen put Kennen down and covered him in his cloak, whilst this was happening, Zed tied Katarina to the stables with the horses and knocked her out so she wouldn't run away. The brothers looked at one another and ran in to the temple.

Tears were running down Akali's face now, she knew what the master was doing, she knew she was fighting badly, she knew not to, but she just couldn't help it! Her anger had taken complete control... Before she knew it, she was knocked to the ground by the butt of the master's knife. Exhausted from all of the excessive swinging, she couldn't stand, and for the first time in her life, felt completely powerless as the master lunged towards her, blade aimed at her heart.


	14. Chapter 14

**Author's Notes:** This is the final chapter to this story, I hope you've enjoyed reading it as much as I've enjoyed writing it! Your thoughts on the story as a whole and whether you'd enjoy more from me! Thank you all!

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Chapter 14

Shen and Zed burst through the temple's front door and sprinted up the steps of the central spire, Shen leading the way. The temple brought back so many memories for Zed, the plain wooden walls and faint aroma of the bamboo walls bringing back thoughts of his father and how he had been wronged. Tears began to form in his eyes at the thought this was all nearly over, but he knew there was still one task to finish so refocused on the task at hand, following in Shen's example, skipping up the stairs 3 at a time. Shen approached the door to the master's office as one of his ninjas left the room; Shen used the momentum of his running to pommel the unsuspecting ninja, knocking him out cold. Whilst Shen dealt with the ninja, Zed turned in to the room to see Karma's body still tied to the chair, blood surrounding her, his eyes focused on the back of the room behind the masters desk and in to the corner. In a split second he had from seeing the master lunge at Akali, he threw his shuriken. With an almighty crash of clashing metals, Zed's shuriken had pushed the master's lunging blade off course enough to just scrape by Akali's arm. With a sigh of relief, Zed ran over to the back of the room, kicking one of the ninjas that was regaining consciousness to the floor again. Shen followed and went straight to Akali. Zed stood between them and the master, ensuring no advances came from him. No words were spoke, Akali raised her uninjured right arm and rested her hand on Shen's cheek, she could see the pale blue eyes of Shen welling up as a tear began to trickle down his face and on to her hand. She smiled softly at him, reassuring him before closing her eyes and falling unconscious. Shen leant over and kissed her forehead, saying "You're safe now, I'm here, and I'll finish this." He picked up Akali and lay her down outside the room for safety.

Shen returned to the room and took his place by Zed's side. "Ready?" He spoke confidently to Zed

"Always, brother." Zed replied with just as much confidence in his voice. Each ninja took a fighting pose, crouched slightly square on and facing one another. Zed had the blades on the back of each of his hands ready, one hand above his head one outstretched in front. Shen mirrored the pose but had his dagger in his left hand above his head and his spirit blade in his right hand pointing at the master. The ninja's made eye contact and turned to the master. "For father!" they shouted in unison as they both lunged toward the master. The master cracked a small smile as he dodged Zed's first attack and parried Shen's sword at the same time. Whilst Shen recovered from being knocked aside straight away the master spun and swung his sword at Zed who knocked it away with his blade. Shen was now behind the master and Zed in front. Both ninjas lunged forward once again at the same time. The master was not surprised and seemed to anticipate this move and flipped backwards away from both attacks and on to the desk behind him. However as if he knew that this was the master's plan, Shen used his dagger to swipe at the masters ankle, just after he landed and in very quick succession after his initial lunge. This was one the master couldn't dodge and suffered the consequence, he briefly lost all stability on his right leg but still parried Zed's follow up attack, although the master's parry was a messy one. This bad parry left the masters left arm way up over his head with his sword in that hand. Shen seized this opportunity to knock away the master's sword, taking it right out of his hand and flying across the room with a clatter. The master used his injured leg however to kick Shen just under the ribs, winding him and knocking him to the floor by the back wall behind him. Zed had retracted one of his blades and used this hand to punch the master square on, sending the master backwards on to the desk on his back. With the hand with his blades out, Zed pinned the master to the desk top, the gap between the twin blades just wide enough to fit around the master's neck. Zed ripped off his mask revealing the huge scars on his face, "Look what you did to me. You killed our father, framed me for his murder, and made me look like this. Do you have anything to say for yourself?"

"Burn in hell... with that stupid father of yours" the master replied with spite and spit a mixture of blood and saliva at Zed's face. Zed took a shuriken off his back and held it to the master's neck. "Maybe you should die the same way," he said with utter disgust in his voice before driving the blade of his shuriken in to the side of the master's neck. With a cough and a splutter the corrupt master of the Kinkou order had been slain.

Zed cleaned his blade on the master robes and turned to Shen, offering him his hand. Using Zed's hand to stand, Shen said "it's over, finally it's over." Zed pulled Shen in to an embrace and Shen could tell Zed was crying, tears of joy or sadness he couldn't tell. From over Zed's shoulder Shen could see the doorframe and from it came Akali, she had used her mask to tie around the wound on her arm and hopefully stem the bleeding. She smiled at Shen and leant on the door frame. Shen broke up the hug with Zed and began to leave the room; he called back to Zed, who was still facing the wall and back window, "You coming?"

"I'll just be a minute." Zed replied, looking down in to the mask in his hands. Shen proceeded to leave the room with Akali. Once alone, Zed approached the window, the sun rising over the Ionian mountains in the distance, and spoke, seemingly to the mask in his hands. "It's over, I can be me now. No more need to hide my face. I. Am. Me." And with that, he threw his mask out of the window and off the back of the mountain the Kinkou temple resided on before untying Karma from the chair and carrying her body out of the room.

The commotion of the fight had attracted a lot of attention in the temple and all ninja's had gathered in the main hall below the central spire. Shen had stopped on the balcony which overlooked the main hall and had been joined by Kennen and Akali who both seem to have regained consciousness but evidently in need of proper rest. The doors at the far side of the hall opened and in came Kay alongside a hooded figure and they joined the back of the crowd in silence. From where they were stood Shen could see Kay enter and could tell the hooded figure was Syndra from the slither of white hair poking out from beneath it. He then noticed Zed coming down the stairs and began to address the crowd that had gathered below. "Today, the Kinkou order begins its climb out of the dark ages, we, your triumvirate, had uncovered a plot by our master which saw him in league with Katarina, the Noxian assassin. Many of you will remember the fire in our past which saw my father killed and my brother exiled for murder. This was a lie. Our master had Katarina kill my father and set the temple ablaze to frame Zed. I know this as the master attempted to have Zed killed the exact same way not too long ago. We have intercepted notes between master and Katarina and took it upon ourselves to stop this. Katarina has been captured and our master stopped. In order to protect you and the people of Ionia we have slain the master." Shen took a pause here and bowed his head. All the ninja's on the hall floor did the same out of respect for the now dead master. "As the triumvirate of the Kinkou order, it is our duty to elect a new master. The man we have chosen saved each of our lives at some point and it has been a unanimous decision to appoint Zed the new master of the order!" This was met with silence from the crowd as no one knew what to say or do, one of the orders few rivals becoming the master? This was unheard of. A solitary person clapping came from the back of the crowd, and slowly others began to join in and before long the hall was heaving with claps and cheers of encouragement. Tears began to gather in Zed's eyes, he finally belonged; he finally had a family again. Shen beckoned Zed forward to speak to his people for the first time.

"I thank you for your support and I hope to lead by example and carry on the Kinkou's work. Today has been a great victory for justice, but with great victory often comes a greater loss." Zed began to walk down the stairs still carrying Karma's body and spoke out again. "We have lost one of Ionia's greatest mages and loveliest people today, at the hands of a traitor. Ruthlessly slaughtered by the former master whilst trying to help uncover his plans, Karma has been laid to rest. My first request as master is we give Karma a proper send off. Can we please assemble a funeral pyre in the courtyard." With that, the ninja's dispersed around Zed as he slowly made his way out of the hall followed by the triumvirate, now joined by Kay and Syndra. Syndra slipped in behind Zed and rested her hand on his shoulder, letting him know that she was here for him, through everything. As they entered the courtyard Shen was handed a torch and in the centre of the courtyard was the pile of wood used as a funeral pyre. Zed laid Karma's body on the top and took a step back. Shen put the torch to the base of the pyre and stood back with Zed. The pyre was in the middle of the muddy courtyard with Karma's head at the end closest to the entrance of the temple. Across the head end the four ninja's stood shoulder to shoulder Zed and Shen in the middle, Akali next to Shen and Kennen next to Zed. Syndra and Kay made the end of the row. The Sun's rays peaked through the spires of the temple and on to where Karma was lay, encircled by ninjas all with their heads bowed in silence. Zed said some final words over the body, "Thank you Karma for all you have done, and for guiding Ionia to a brighter future. May you rest in peace." Silence then prevailed over courtyard with the cracking of the burning wood being the only sound. Even the birds had fallen silent.

After the body had been burnt, the triumvirate headed off to the hospital wing of the temple to patch up the injuries they'd sustained whilst Zed was being swarmed by the ninjas of the Kinkou order in introductions as they tried to give him a warm welcome. Sensing he was a little flustered Kay stepped in front so she could speak to Zed. "There's an urgent matter you must attend, master."

"Yes? May you remind me please Kay?" Zed replied quizzically.

"The red head in the courtyard has begun to regain consciousness." Kay informed Zed and with that he, Syndra and Kay left towards the front courtyard.

Katarina's vision had begun to clear up and she could just make out the figures of the three comrades, she spoke to them "Did I miss something?" yet before anyone was able to answer a booming deep voice came from just outside the front gates saying "I demand to speak with your leader at once." Zed, Syndra and Kay exchanged glances before meeting the demands of the voice. Kay stayed behind and sat with Katarina to make sure she stayed put whilst the other two left. Stood just outside was a strong looking man clad in a silver and gold armour with medium length brown bangs and a massive sword in one hand, Zed recognised him instantly, it was Garen, the might of Demacia. "I am the master on the Kinkou order. What do we owe the pleasure Garen?" Zed enquired calmly. Garen got down on his knees in politeness to his superior. "I am lead to believe that there is something of great importance to me being kept here." Zed nodded and turned to Syndra who had put her hood up again as Garen would have recognised her instantly, whispering softly, "Tell Kay to take Katarina to get some clean clothes and to wait outside the meeting room until I call her in." Syndra turned and left. "Rise, my friend." Zed gestured for Garen to stand up as he spoke, "Let us go inside and discuss the matter." The pair turned and walked in, past the still smouldering pile of wood that was once a funeral pyre and in to the temple. Zed was relieved to see that Katarina had been moved when he took Garen through. They wandered to the right of the temple and through a wooden door in to what looked like a bamboo board room. They weren't alone in there however, Zed was accompanied by a few of his subordinates. "Please, take a seat," Zed told Garen whilst gesturing to the chairs around the table, "Can we get you anything? Food or a drink perhaps?" Garen politely refused as Zed sat at the table opposite. "Shall we get straight down to business then? This thing that is of great importance to you, that we supposedly have here, how do you know for certain it is here?" Zed began quizzing Garen, to see if he could shake the mighty Garen as he knew exactly what he was after.

"I was told by the men at the inn by the port they saw it being carried off by two ninja's. Seeing as we're in Ionia, the best place to find a ninja would be here, right?" Zed could tell Garen was nervous in this situation, he was better known for his negotiations with a sword than his words.

"I'm certain I know what you're after here Garen. A certain young red head girl?" Garen flinched when Zed mentioned this, his grip tightening on the hilt of his sword. "You're not mistaken, she's here. But there's no need for you to worry," Zed attempting to reassure Garen after noticing his grip on his sword, enough blood had been spilt today. He then went on to explain everything, including Katarina's involvement and the overthrowing of the master, finished with Karma's death. Garen went pale. A little shocked by the news that the master of the Kinkou order is now Zed, and a little upset about Katarina and the fact he was used as bait. "Now, I'm sure you understand my position here. There is a criminal in my custody that needs punishment, and there's a mighty general here asking me to release that criminal. I think we can strike some sort of understanding here. Katarina has a particularly useful set of skills, if in the right hands..."

Outside the room, Katarina waited patiently. She was leant up against the wooden door stood next to Kay; both were dressed in long black robes, the standard dress for female ninja's when around the temple. Katarina couldn't help wonder who had came at this time, and why she was now being treated more like a guest than a prisoner. Before long, a voice came from inside the room asking them to come in, Kay opened the door and they both went in. Katarina saw Garen and ran straight over to him, hugging him tightly. After a short while, Zed broke them up and asked Katarina to sit down next to Garen, Kay sat by Zed. "Now then Katarina," Zed began confidently, "Me and your lovely boyfriend here have had a little chat about you." Katarina was obviously a little nervous, all she wanted was to go home with Garen, Zed continued, "As you have been on the rampage recently, killing for killing's sake, as well as being hired by our master to commit heinous crimes, we can't simply let you leave and continue your murderous ways. So," Zed paused, "We've decided," he paused again, for slightly longer this time, "That you, Katarina du Couteau, will serve directly under Garen Crownguard as part of his Royal Vanguard for the rest of your life. This way, you will not be killing randomly, you will be under control and in balance, yet serve some punishment as you no longer have your freedom. Do you understand?" Ecstatic with the news, Katarina nodded and turned to Garen who spoke to Zed, "Thank you for your hospitality and kindness, master. Know you will forever have an ally in me."

"Thank you, my friend." The two men stood and shook hands before the Demacian and the Noxian left the temple. Zed spoke to Kay next, "Thank You for all your hard work Kay, it has not gone unnoticed." Kay bowed her head to her master as Zed left the room, now confident in his new role as master of the Kinkou order.

Over in the hospital wing, Kennen has been checked over and left to get food, leaving Akali and Shen alone. They sat in silence whilst they used their medical expertise to check over each other's wounds. Until Shen attempted a joke, "That yordle, he's always hungry!" This was met with disconcerting silence from Akali and he looked down, obviously misreading the situation. "You know, I don't know what I'd have done if me and Zed got there any later than we did. And I don't think I would have been able to save you if it wasn't for Zed. I'm sorry I couldn't protect you." His voice wavered as he was obviously getting upset. Akali used her non-injured arm to lift his chin so they were looking in one another's eyes. Shen's pale blue eyes, misty with tears and Akali's face was soaking wet from the tears she'd begun to shed yet she spoke with sincerity and confidence, "But I'm here, I am alive, thanks to you and your brother." With that she pulled his face closer to hers and kissed him, the passion only magnified by the fact they nearly lost one another today. After a while, Shen pulled back and looked Akali deep in her eyes and said "I love you," For the very first time in his deep velvety voice that made Akali tremble, her tears fell down her face at a greater rate as she spoke back, "I love you too." Once patched up, they made their way back to Zed and the rest, their hands intertwined deeply, as deeply as their love for one another.


End file.
